System and method of deionization of water

ABSTRACT

A method of treating water in a water treatment system after a replacement of an ion exchange bed includes introducing water to be treated into the ion exchange bed of the water treatment system to produce treated water, calculating a current exchange daily average flow rate of water through the water treatment system, calculating a cumulative daily average flow rate of water through the water treatment system, and determining an estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange bed based on the current exchange daily average flow rate and the cumulative daily average flow rate.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/358,190, titled “METHOD OF TREATING WATER WITHAN ION EXCHANGE BED IN A WATER TREATMENT SYSTEM, filed on Mar. 19, 2019,which claims benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) to U.S. Patent ApplicationNo. 62/716,127, titled “APPLYING INTELLIGENCE TO WATER ONE ASSURANCE”,filed on Aug. 8, 2018, each of which is herein incorporated by referencein its entirety for all purposes.

BACKGROUND Field

Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are directed generally tomethods and apparatus for monitoring, controlling, and maintaining watertreatment systems, and in particular to systems and methods ofmonitoring the condition of ion exchange-based water treatment systems.

Related Art

Deionized (Dl) water is an ingredient in hundreds of applications,including medical, laboratory processes, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics,electronics manufacturing, food processing, plating, countlessindustrial processes, and even the spot-free rinse water at the localcar wash. Typically, it serves as an ultra-pure ingredient, a cleaningsolvent, or as the foundation of a process water recovery/reusestrategy. Deionized water meeting Water-For-Injection (WFI) standards ofpurity is used as the basis for saline and other solutions to beinjected into the body during medical procedures. Its bacteria-free andmineral-free purity helps assure the quality and stability of thesolution as other ingredients are added to it. DI laboratory water istypically used to clean instruments and lab equipment and to performtissue cell culture, blood fractionation, and other lab procedures.Deionized water in the pharmaceutical industry is used for preparingculture media, for making up aqueous solutions, and for washingcontainers and apparatus. It is also used as a raw material, ingredient,and solvent in the processing, formulation, and manufacture ofpharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, active pharmaceuticalingredients (APIs) and intermediates, compendial articles, andanalytical reagents. In semiconductor manufacturing, deionized water'sproperties for absorbing minerals, enhancing detergents and residue-freedrying make it useful for rinsing and cleaning semiconductor wafers. Itis also used in wet etching, bacterial testing and many other processesthroughout the fabrication facility. Deionized water is commonly used totop up lead-acid batteries, cooling systems and for other applications.Deionized water is often used as an ingredient to add purity, stabilityand performance in many hair care, skin care, body care, baby care, suncare and makeup products, where it is sometimes referred to as “aqua” onproduct ingredient labels. Because of its high relative dielectricconstant, deionized water is used as a high voltage dielectric in manypulsed power applications for energy research. Deionized water is usedas both an ingredient and a process element in food and beverageprocessing. As an ingredient, it offers stability, purity andsanitation. As a process element, it is used for effective sanitation.In industrial plants, DI water facilitates water and wastewaterrecycling; adds efficiency and life extension to boiler and steamprocesses. Deionized water is used to pretreat boiler feed water toreduce scaling and energy use and to control deposition, carryover andcorrosion in the boiler system. As such, DI water is an essentialelement in boiler water recycling. Deionized water can pretreat coolingtower makeup water to help reduce scaling and reduce energy use in powerplants, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, natural gasprocessing plants, food processing plants, semiconductor plants, andother industrial facilities. When used as a rinse after washing cars,windows, and similar applications, deionized spot-free rinse water drieswithout leaving spots caused by dissolved solutes, eliminating post-washwipedowns.

Flow meters, conductivity and resistivity meters, temperature sensors,pH sensors and hydrogen sulfide sensors, for example, along with otherscientific instruments are widely used in many remote locations for avariety of purposes including monitoring the condition of a waterpurification system. It is often necessary for workmen to physicallyvisit the remote sites to monitor the flow meters or other instruments(e.g., samplers) to gather data. Multiple site visits in numerouslocations is a challenging, labor intensive, and expensive task.Ensuring that each site is operational, and that maintenance or serviceis regularly scheduled provides for obtaining accurate and reliabledata.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure there is provideda method of treating water in a water treatment system after areplacement of an ion exchange bed. The method comprises introducingwater to be treated into the ion exchange bed of the water treatmentsystem to produce treated water, calculating a current exchange dailyaverage flow rate of water through the water treatment system,calculating a cumulative daily average flow rate of water through thewater treatment system, and determining an estimated number of daysremaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange bed based on the currentexchange daily average flow rate and the cumulative daily average flowrate.

In some embodiments, determining the estimated number of days remainingcomprises determining a weighted daily average flow rate involvingapplying a greater weighting to the cumulative daily average flow ratethan a weighting applied to the current exchange daily average flowrate. Determining the weighted daily average flow rate may includeperforming a calculation as follows:

F _(weighted)=[(w _(cumulative))×(F _(cumulative))]+[(w _(current))×(F_(current))]

wherein,

F_(weighted)=weighted daily average flow rate,

F_(current)=current exchange daily average flow rate,

F_(cumulative)=cumulative daily average flow rate,

0.5≤w_(cumulative)≤0.9,

0.1<w_(current)<0.5,

w_(cumulative)+w_(current)=1.

In some embodiments, 0.2<w_(current)<0.4.

In some embodiments, w_(current) is about 0.3.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating a requestfor replacement of the ion exchange bed based on the estimated number ofdays remaining. The method may further comprise transmitting thegenerated request for replacement of the ion exchange bed to a centralserver.

In some embodiments, the water treatment system is located at a firstsite and the method further comprises determining whether to replace theion exchange bed of the water treatment system at the first site and asecond ion exchange bed of another water treatment system at a secondsite in a same service trip. Determining whether to replace both the ionexchange bed of the water treatment system at the first site and thesecond ion exchange bed of the another water treatment system at thesecond site in the same service trip may include weighing a costassociated with regenerating the ion exchange bed from the first siteand the ion exchange bed from the second site against a cost associatedwith different service trips to the first and the second sites.

In some embodiments, the water treatment system is located at a firstsite in a network of a plurality of different sites each including atleast one water treatment system having an ion exchange bed, and themethod further comprises determining a subset of ion exchange beds ofthe plurality of sites to be replaced in a same service trip.

In some embodiments, calculating the cumulative daily average flow rateincludes calculating the average daily flow rate of water for aplurality of periods including a plurality of instances of replacing theion exchange bed. Calculating the cumulative daily average flow rate ofwater may include calculating a prior period average daily flow rate ofwater through the water treatment system for a time period including apredetermined number of instances of replacing the ion exchange bedimmediately preceding the receipt of indication of replacement.Calculating the prior period average daily flow rate of water mayinclude applying a greater weight to flow rates of water through the ionexchange bed closer in time to the current period than to flow rates ofwater through the water treatment system further in time from thecurrent period.

In some embodiments, determining the estimated number of days remainingto exhaustion is based on a current tank capacity of the ion exchangebed, an average conductivity of the water for the current period, andthe current exchange daily average flow rate.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises measuring aconductivity of the water to be treated during a current period, anddetermining a current average conductivity of water to be treated duringthe current period, wherein determining the estimated number of daysremaining to exhaustion is further based on the determined currentaverage conductivity.

In some embodiments, determining the estimated number of days remainingto exhaustion comprises performing a calculation as follows:

$D_{remaining} = \frac{\left( \frac{{TC}_{current}}{\left. \left( {\rho_{current}*\left( {{conductivity}\mspace{14mu} {TDS}\mspace{14mu} {conv}} \right)\text{/}{grains}\mspace{14mu} {conversion}} \right) \right)} \right)}{\left( {\left( {w_{cumulative}*F_{cumulative}} \right) + \left( {w_{current}*F_{current}} \right)} \right)}$

where,

D_(remaining)=estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion,

TC_(current)=current tank capacity,

ρ_(current)=current daily average conductivity,

0.5≤w_(cumulative)≤0.9,

F_(cumulative)=cumulative daily average flow rate,

0.1<w_(current)<0.5,

F_(current)=current average flow rate,

w_(cumulative)+w_(current)=1,

conductivity TDS conv=conductivity conversion factor in ppm,

grains conversion=grains conversion factor in grains per gallon.

Typically, 1 grain represents 17.1 ppm (as CaCO₃) and 2.53 μS represents1 ppm (as CaCO₃).

In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a system forproviding treated water. The system comprises a first water treatmentunit having a first ion exchange bed having ion exchange media containedtherein, and disposed to receive a first water stream to be treated, afirst flow meter positioned along a flow path including the first ionexchange bed and configured to measure a first flow rate of the firstwater stream passing through the first flow path, and a first controllerin communication with the first flow meter. The first controller isconfigured to receive first flow rate data regarding the first flowrate, calculate, based on the first flow rate data, a first currentaverage flow rate of the first water stream through the first ionexchange bed, calculate a first cumulative average flow rate through thefirst water treatment unit, determine a first weighted average flow ratefrom a weighted average of the first current average flow rate and thefirst cumulative average flow rate, and determine an estimated number ofdays remaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in the first ionexchange bed based on the first weighted average flow rate and acapacity of the ion exchange media of the first ion exchange bed.

In some embodiments, the system further comprises a second watertreatment unit disposed remotely from the first water treatment unit,the second water treatment unit having a second ion exchange bed havingion exchange media contained therein, and disposed to receive a secondwater stream to be treated, a second flow meter positioned along asecond flow path including the second ion exchange bed and configured tomeasure a second flow rate of the second water stream passing throughthe second flow path, and a second controller in communication with thesecond flow meter. The second controller is configured to receive secondflow rate data regarding the second flow rate, calculate, based on thesecond flow rate data, a second current average flow rate of the secondwater stream through the second ion exchange bed, calculate a secondcumulative average flow rate through the second water treatment unit,determine a second weighted average flow rate from a weighted average ofthe second current average flow rate and the second cumulative averageflow rate, and determine a second estimated number of days remaining toexhaustion of the ion exchange media in the second ion exchange bedbased on the second weighted average flow rate and a capacity of the ionexchange media of the second ion exchange bed.

In some embodiments, the system further comprises a central controllerlocated at a site remote from first water treatment unit disposed toreceive the estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion of the ionexchange media in the first ion exchange bed. The central controller maybe further configured to receive the second estimated number of daysremaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in the second ionexchange bed and determine whether to replace the ion exchange media inthe first ion exchange bed and ion exchange media in the second ionexchange bed in a same service trip. The central controller may beconfigured to determine whether to replace the ion exchange media in thefirst ion exchange bed and the ion exchange media in the second ionexchange bed in the same service trip by weighing a cost associated withregenerating the ion exchange media of the first ion exchange bed andthe ion exchange media of the second ion exchange bed against a costassociated with different service trips to each of the first and thesecond sites.

In some embodiments, the first controller is configured to determine thefirst weighted average flow rate by applying a greater weighting to thefirst current average flow rate than a weighting applied to the firstcumulative average flow rate. The first controller may be configured todetermine the first weighted average flow rate by performing acalculation as follows:

first weighted average flow rate=A×(first cumulative average flowrate)+B×(first current average flow rate),

wherein 0.5<A<0.9, 0.1<B<0.5, and A+B=1.

In some embodiments, the first controller is further configured toschedule a second replacement of the ion exchange media at a second timedetermined from the estimated number of days remaining until the ionexchange media will be exhausted.

In some embodiments, the second controller is configured to determinethe second weighted average flow rate by performing a calculation asfollows:

second weighted average flow rate=C×(second cumulative average flowrate)+D×(second current average flow rate),

wherein 0.5<C<0.9, 0.1<D<0.5, and C+D=1.

In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a water treatmentsystem comprising a central server and a plurality of water treatmentunits, each water treatment unit disposed remotely from the centralserver, and each respectively having ion exchange media disposed toreceive water to be treated and provide treated water, at least one flowmeter disposed to monitor flow of water in the water treatment unit, anda controller configured to determine, for a predetermined period, anunadjusted flow rate of water through the water treatment unit,determine a historical flow rate of water through the water treatmentunit, determine, for the ion exchange media, at least one of an expectedremaining service capacity and a predicted days to exhaustion based onthe unadjusted flow rate, the historical flow rate, and a total capacityof the ion exchange media, and transmit at least one of the expectedremaining service capacity and the predicted days to exhaustion to thecentral server.

In some embodiments, each of the water treatment unit further comprisesa conductivity sensor disposed to respectively measure a conductivity ofwater introduced into the ion exchange media of each respective watertreatment unit, and wherein the controller is further configured todetermine at least one of the predicted days to exhaustion and the totalcapacity of the respective ion exchange media based on the measuredconductivity from the conductivity sensor.

In some embodiments, the central server is configured to generate aservice request to replace ion exchange media in a particular watertreatment unit if the predicted days to exhaustion of the particularwater treatment unit is less than a service lag time.

In some embodiments, the central server is configured to generate aservice request to replace the respective ion exchange media in aparticular water treatment unit if the remaining capacity of theparticular water treatment unit is less than a minimum capacity.

In some embodiments, the central server is further configured to combineat least two service requests from at least two different watertreatment units into single aggregated service request to replacerespective ion exchange media of the at least two water treatment unitsif a separation distance between the at least two water treatment unitsis less than a maximum separation distance.

In accordance with another aspect, there is provided a method ofproviding treated water. The method comprises receiving, at a remoteserver, at least one of a remaining capacity and an estimated periodremaining to exhaustion of a first ion exchange bed at a first treatmentunit. The first treatment unit is configured to monitor a flow rate ofwater through the first ion exchange bed of the first treatment unitconfigured to deliver treated water to a first point of use, calculate afirst average flow rate of water through the first ion exchange bed fora predefined time period, determine a first average conductivity of thewater into the first ion exchange bed during the predefined time period,determine at least one of the remaining capacity and the estimatedperiod remaining to exhaustion of the first ion exchange bed based onthe first average flow rate, the first average conductivity, and a firsthistorical average flow rate of water through the first treatment unit.The method further comprises receiving, at the remote server, at leastone of a remaining capacity and an estimated period remaining toexhaustion of a second ion exchange bed of a second treatment unit, thesecond treatment unit remote from the first treatment unit. The secondtreatment unit is configured to monitor a flow rate of water through thesecond ion exchange bed of the second treatment unit configured todeliver treated water to a second point of use, calculate a secondaverage flow rate of water through the second ion exchange bed for thepredefined time period, determine a second average conductivity of thewater into the second ion exchange bed during the predefined timeperiod, and determine at least one of the remaining capacity and theestimated time to exhaustion of the second ion exchange bed of thesecond treatment unit based on the second average flow rate, the secondaverage conductivity, and a second historical average flow rate of waterthrough the second treatment unit.

In some embodiments, the first controller determines the at least one ofthe remaining capacity and the estimated period remaining to exhaustionof the first ion exchange bed by weighting the first average flow raterelative to the first historical average flow rate according to a ratioranging from about 2:8 to about 4:6.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are not intended to be drawn to scale. In thedrawings, each identical or nearly identical component that isillustrated in various figures is represented by a like numeral. Forpurposes of clarity, not every component may be labeled in everydrawing. In the drawings:

FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of a water treatment system andassociated monitoring system;

FIG. 1B is a schematic illustration of a water treatment system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of a water treatment system andassociated monitoring system;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of a data platform/monitoring systemfor a water treatment system;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of a service deionization watertreatment system;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of a water treatment system service;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a method of providing treated water;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a method of performing actions based on datacollected by a water treatment unit during treatment of water;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of a method of remotely monitoring water treatmentunits;

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method of predictingexhaustion of an ion exchange media bed;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a method of determining the condition of ionexchange media of service deionization water treatment system;

FIG. 11A, is one example of a chart of predicted remaining capacity ofan ion exchange system calculated in accordance with a previous methodand predicted remaining capacity calculated according to a method asdisclosed herein;

FIG. 11B is another example of a chart of predicted remaining capacityof an ion exchange system calculated in accordance with a previousmethod and predicted remaining capacity calculated according to a methodas disclosed herein; and

FIG. 12 is another exemplary flowchart representative of a method ofdetermining the condition of a water treatment system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein are not limited to the detailsof construction and the arrangement of components set forth in thefollowing description or illustrated in the drawings. Aspects andembodiments disclosed herein are capable of other embodiments and ofbeing practiced or of being carried out in various ways.

Aspects and embodiments disclosed herein include a wireless monitoringsystem which enables data collection from and monitoring of the statusof various meters, sensors, and scientific instruments at one or morelocations. The data may be gathered wirelessly, for example, by means ofthe GSM cellular telephone network using a modem connected to a computeror a hand-held device, by Wi-Fi, or other wireless data collectionmethods known in the art, e.g., based on the LTE Cat 1, LTE Cat M1, orCat NB1 standard. In other embodiments, data may be gathered from themonitoring system via a wired connection to a centralized monitoringsystem.

Aspects and embodiments of a wireless monitoring system may be utilizedin the environment of a water treatment system. The water treatmentsystem may include one or more unit operations. The one or more unitoperations may include one or more pressure-driven water treatmentdevices, for example, membrane filtration devices such as nanofiltration(NF) devices, reverse osmosis (RO) devices, hollow fiber membranefiltration devices, etc., one or more ion-exchange water treatmentdevices, one or more electrically-driven water treatment devices, forexample, electrodialysis (ED) or electrodeionization (EDI) devices, oneor more chemical-based water treatment devices, for example,chlorination or other chemical dosing devices, one or more carbonfilters, one or more biologically-based treatment devices, for example,aerobic biological treatment vessels, anaerobic digesters, orbiofilters, one or more radiation-based water treatment devices, forexample, ultraviolet light irradiation systems.

The water treatment system may be utilized to treat water for industrialuses, for example, for use in semiconductor processing plants, foodprocessing or preparation sites, for use in chemical processing plants,to produce purified water for use as laboratory water, for medicaldevice manufacturing, or pharmaceutical production, or may be utilizedto provide a site with water suitable for irrigation or drinking waterpurposes. In other embodiments, the water treatment system may beutilized to treat wastewater from industrial or municipal sources.

The water treatment system may include one or more sensors, probes, orinstruments for monitoring one or more parameters of water entering orexiting any one or more of the one or more unit operations. The one ormore sensors, probes, or instruments may include, for example, flowmeters, water level sensors, conductivity meters, resistivity meters,chemical concentration meters, turbidity monitors, chemical speciesspecific concentration sensors, temperature sensors, pH sensors,oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) sensors, pressure sensors, or anyother sensor, probe, or scientific instrument useful for providing anindication of a desired characteristic or parameter of water entering orexiting any one or more of the one or more unit operations.

A monitoring system may be utilized to gather data from sensors, probes,or scientific instruments included in the water treatment system and mayprovide the gathered data to operators local to the water treatmentsystem or to persons, for example, a water treatment system serviceprovider, remote from the water treatment and monitoring system.

One embodiment of a water treatment system (also referred to herein as awater treatment unit) and associated monitoring system is illustratedschematically in FIG. 1A generally at 100. The water treatment systemmay include one or more water treatment units or devices 105A, 105B,105C. The one or more water treatment devices may be arrangedfluidically in series and/or in parallel as illustrated in FIG. 1B.Although only three water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C areillustrated, it is to be understood that the water treatment system mayinclude any number of water treatment units or devices.

The water treatment system 100 may further include one or more ancillarysystems 150A, 150B, 150C, for example, pumps, pre or post filters,polishing beds, heating or cooling units, sampling units, powersupplies, or other ancillary equipment fluidically in line with orotherwise coupled to or in communication with the one or more watertreatment units 105A, 105B, 105C. The ancillary systems are not limitedto only three ancillary systems but may be any number and type ofancillary systems desired in a particular implementation. The one ormore water treatment units 105A, 105B, 105C and ancillary systems 150A,150B, 150C may be in communication with a controller 110, for example, acomputerized controller, which may receive signals from and/or sendsignals to the one or more water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C andancillary systems 150A, 150B, 150C to monitor and control same. The oneor more water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C and ancillary systems150A, 150B, 150C may send or receive data related to one or moreoperating parameters to or from the controller 110 in analog or digitalsignals. The controller 110 may be local to the water treatment system100 or remote from the water treatment system 100 and may be incommunication with the components of the water treatment system 100 bywired and/or wireless links, e.g., by a local area network or a databus. A source of water to be treated 200 may supply water to be treatedto the water treatment system 100. The water to be treated may passthrough or be treated in any of the water treatment devices 105A, 105B,105C and, optionally, one or more of the ancillary systems 150A, 150B,150C and may be output to a downstream device or point of use 220.

Returning to FIG. 1A, one or more sensors, probes, or scientificinstruments associated with each of the water treatment devices 105A,105B, 105C may be in communication, via a wired or a wirelessconnection, to a controller 110 which may include, for example, a localmonitoring and data gathering device or system. The one of more sensors,probes or scientific instruments associated with each of the watertreatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C may provide monitoring data to thecontroller 110 in the form of analog or digital signals. The controller110 may provide data from the sensors or scientific instrumentsassociated with each of the water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C todifferent locations. One of the locations may optionally include adisplay 115 local to one of the water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105Cor the site at which the water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C arelocated. Another of the locations may be a web portal 120 which may behosted in a local or remote server or in the cloud 125. Another of thelocations optionally may be a distributed control system (DCS) 130 whichmay be located at the site or at the facility at which the watertreatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C are located.

Processing of the data from the one or more sensors, probes, orscientific instruments associated with each of the water treatmentdevices 105A, 105B, 105C may be performed at the controller 110 andsummarized data may be provided to one or more of the locations 115,120, 130, or the controller 110 may pass raw data from the one or moresensors or scientific instruments or probes to one or more of thelocations 115, 120, 130. The data may be available through one or moreof the locations 115, 120, 130 to an operator of the water treatmentsystem or any of the individual water treatment devices, to a user oftreated water provided by the water treatment system, to a vendor orservice provider that may be responsible for maintenance of one or moreof the water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105C or the system 100 as awhole, or to any other interested parties. For example, a user of thewater treatment system 100 may access data related to water qualityand/or quantity of treated water produced in the water treatment system100 via the web portal 120 or via the site DCS system 130. The user mayutilize such data for auditing purposes or to show compliance withregulations associated with production of the treated water. Furtheroptional configurations contemplate storage of the raw or processed dataor both at one or more data storage devices, at any of locations 110,120 and 130.

Features associated with the water treatment devices 105A, 105B, 105Care illustrated in FIG. 2, wherein an example of a water treatmentdevice (which may be any one or more of water treatment devices 105A,105B, 105C) is indicated at 105. A source 200 of water (alternativelyreferred to herein as feedwater) to be treated in the water treatmentdevice 105 may be disposed in fluid communication upstream of the watertreatment device 105. The source 200 may be a source of untreated water,water output from a plant or from a point of use at the site at whichthe water treatment device 105 is located, or an upstream watertreatment device. The water to be treated may pass through or otherwisebe monitored by one or more sensors 205 upstream of the inlet of thewater treatment device 105. The one or more sensors 205 may include, forexample, a flow meter, a conductivity sensor, a pH sensor, a turbiditysensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, an ORP sensor, or anyone or more of the other forms of sensors described above. The one ormore sensors 205 may provide data regarding one or more measuredparameters of the water to be treated in the water treatment device 105to a local monitor 225 associated with the water treatment device 105which may pass the data on to the controller 110. The one or moresensors 205 may provide the data in either analog signals or digitalsignals. The local monitor 225 may be included as hardware or softwarein the controller 110 or may be a separate device. The one or moresensors 205 may additionally or alternatively provide data regarding theone or more measured parameters of the water to be treated in the watertreatment device 105 directly to the controller 110.

The water to be treated may enter the water treatment device 105 throughan inlet 104 of the water treatment device 105 and undergo treatmentwithin the water treatment device 105. One or more sensors 210 may bedisposed internal to the water treatment device 105 to gather datarelated to operation of the water treatment device 105 and/or one ormore parameters of the water undergoing treatment in the water treatmentdevice 105. The one or more sensors 210 may include, for example, apressure sensor, level sensor, conductivity sensor, pH sensor, OPRsensor, current or voltage sensor, or any one or more of the other formsof sensors described above. The one or more sensors 210 may provide datarelated to operation of the water treatment device 105 and/or one ormore parameters of the water undergoing treatment in the water treatmentdevice 105 to the local monitor 225, which may pass the data on to thecontroller 110. The one or more sensors 210 may additionally oralternatively provide data related to operation of the water treatmentdevice 105 and/or one or more parameters of the water undergoingtreatment in the water treatment device 105 directly to the controller110. Communications between the one or more sensors 210 and localmonitor 225 and/or controller 110 may be via a wired or wirelesscommunications link.

After treatment in the water treatment device 105 the treated water mayexit though an outlet 106 of the water treatment device 105. One or moreparameters of the treated water may be tested or monitored by one ormore downstream sensors 215. The one or more sensors 215 may include,for example, a flow meter, a conductivity sensor, a pH sensor, aturbidity sensor, a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, an ORPsensor, or any one or more of the other forms of sensors describedabove. The one or more sensors 215 may provide data regarding one ormore measured parameters of the treated water to the local monitor 225,which may pass the data on to the controller 110. The one or moresensors 215 may additionally or alternatively provide data regarding theone or more measured parameters of the treated water directly to thecontroller 110. Communications between the one or more sensors 215 andlocal monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may be via a wired or wirelesscommunications link.

The local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may include functionalityfor controlling the operation of the water treatment device 105. Basedon measured parameters of the water to be treated or the treated waterfrom the sensors 205 and/or 215, measured parameters from the one ormore internal sensors 210, or based on a command received from anoperator, the local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may control inletor outlet valves V (or one or more ancillary systems 150A, 150B, 150Cillustrated in FIG. 1B) to adjust a flow rate or residence time of waterwithin the water treatment device 105. The local monitor 225 and/orcontroller 110 may also control one or more internal controls 230 of thewater treatment device 105 to adjust one or more operating parameters ofthe water treatment device 105, for example, internal temperature,pressure, pH, electrical current or voltage (for electrically-basedtreatment devices), aeration, mixing speed or intensity, or any otherdesired operating parameter of the water treatment device 105.

The local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may monitor signals from oneor more of the input sensors 205, internal sensors 210, and outputsensors 215 to determine if an error condition or unexpected event hasoccurred and may be configured to generate and error message or signalin response to detecting same. For example, in instances in which theinput sensors 205 and output sensors 215 include inlet and outletpressure sensors, the local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may beconfigured to receive inlet pressure data from the inlet pressure sensorand outlet pressure data from the outlet pressure sensor and generate analarm if a difference in the pressure of the feedwater relative to thepressure of the treated water is above a differential pressure setpoint.In instances in which one or more of the input sensors 205, internalsensors 210, and output sensors 215 include a leak detection moduledisposed to close if moisture is detected in an enclosure of the watertreatment unit 105, the local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 may beconfigured to generate an indication if the leak detection moduledetects moisture in the enclosure. In some embodiments, the leak detectmodule includes a sensor disposed externally or outside of but proximatethe enclosure of the unit on a floor upon which the water treatment unitis set.

In one embodiment, the monitoring system, represented by the controller110 and illustrated in further detail in FIG. 3, may include one or morewired and/or wireless communication modules, such as modem 305 whichmay, for example, utilize a cellular phone network, e.g., based on theLTE Cat 1, LTE Cat M1, or Cat NB1 standard, to communicate dataregarding operation of a water treatment device 105 and/or water to betreated and/or water after being treated in a water treatment device 105with a remote server or one of locations 115, 120, 130, a processingunit (CPU) 310 operatively connected to the communication modules, suchas modem 305, a memory 315 operatively connected to the CPU 310 whichcould be used to store data received from sensors associated with thewater treatment devices and/or code for controlling the operation of oneor more water treatment devices, one or more additional interfaces 320,which may include wired or wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, cellular,etc.) modules for connecting one or more scientific instruments or anyof sensors 205, 210, 215 or other sensors associated with a watertreatment device 105 or system to the central processing unit, a powersupply 325 for providing electrical power to the modem 305 and thecentral processing unit, and an enclosure 330 for housing the componentsat the location. In some embodiments, the one or more module 305 mayinclude a Bluetooth® interface operatively configured to wirelesslytransmit data over a personal area network, e.g., a short distancenetwork in compliance with the IEEE 802.15.1 standard, or a utilizewireless local area network protocols, e.g. Wi-Fi based on the IEEE802.11 standard. In some embodiments, the one or more interfaces 320 mayinclude a Bluetooth® interface operatively configured to wirelesslytransmit data over a personal area network, e.g., a short distancenetwork in compliance with the IEEE 802.15.1 standard, or a utilizewireless local area network protocols, e.g., Wi-Fi based on the IEEE802.11 standard. Any or all of the components of the controller 110 maybe communicatively coupled with one or more internal busses 335. In someembodiments, the memory 315 may include a non-transitory computerreadable medium including instructions, that when executed by the CPU310, cause the CPU 310 to perform any of the methods disclosed herein.

A variety of monitoring devices such as a flow meter or other scientificinstrument are normally operably connected to the CPU 310 such that datafrom the monitoring device or scientific instrument is transmitted tothe modem 305 where it can be accessed from a remote location through,for example, the cellular phone network.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a remote monitoring and control systemarchitecture is used as illustrated in FIG. 1A. A controller 110comprising a modem 305 (FIG. 3) and cellular connectivity is connectedto various devices, for example, one or more sensors (for example, anyone or more of sensors 205, 210, 215) associated with water treatmentdevices 105A, 105B, and 105C. The one or more sensors may comprise aservice deionization tank resistivity monitor, a series of sensors andmonitors such as a flow meter, conductivity meter, temperature and pHsensors for a water purification system such as a reverse osmosissystem, or the one or more sensors may comprise a series of unitoperations combined into a complete system. The information from thevarious one or more sensors is uploaded to internal portals from theoperating business and can also be uploaded to customer portals andcustomer DCS systems 130. The entire network may be cloud based.

One example of a local water treatment system or unit 100 that may beincluded in aspects and embodiments disclosed herein is a servicedeionization system. One example of a local water treatment system orunit 100 including a service deionization system is illustratedgenerally at 400 in FIG. 4. Water to be treated is supplied from asource 405 of water to an inlet pressure relief valve 410. The inletpressure relief valve 410 regulates inlet water pressure to preventover-pressurization and potential system damage. The inlet water thenpasses through a solenoid valve 415 and passes through a pre-filter 420.The pre-filter 420 removes particulate matter that may be present in theinlet water from the source 405. A first flow meter 425 monitors theflow of the inlet water from the pre-filter 420. An inlet water qualityprobe S1 is in fluid communication with inlet water exiting thepre-filter 420. The inlet water quality probe S1 includes a conductivitysensor and a temperature sensor. Conductivity of the inlet water maydepend on both concentration of ionic species in the inlet water andtemperature of the inlet water. The temperature sensor may provide datautilized to apply an offset or calibration to data output from theconductivity sensor to reduce or eliminate the effect of temperature onthe conductivity sensor readings. In some embodiments, the rawconductivity readings from the inlet water conductivity sensor may belinearly adjusted for temperatures different from a referencetemperature of 25° C. by a temperature coefficient, such as 2.0% perdegree C.

The inlet water flows from the first flow meter 425 to a first treatmentcolumn 430 which may be, for example, a carbon filtration column. Thewater is treated in the first treatment column 430, exits the firsttreatment column 430, and enters a second treatment column 435 which maybe, for example, a cation resin ion exchange column.

After being treated in the second treatment column 435 the water exitsthe second treatment column 435 and enters a third treatment column orworker bed 440. The worker bed 440 may include, for example, an anionresin ion exchange column. A worker probe S2 is disposed to measure atleast one worker water parameter of water from the worker bed 440. Theworker probe S2 may include a conductivity sensor and a temperaturesensor for providing temperature calibration for data output from theconductivity sensor of the worker probe S2, as described above withreference to the inlet water quality probe S1. In some embodiments, theraw conductivity readings from the worker bed water conductivity sensormay be linearly adjusted for temperatures different from a referencetemperature of 25° C. by a temperature coefficient, e.g., 4.3% perdegree C. The temperature coefficient can be adjusted locally, at theunit or remotely, from the central server. The worker probe S2 may beprovided on the output of the worker bed 440 to measure the quality ofwater exiting the worker bed 440. The worker probe S2 may include anindicator light or display (not shown) that provides an indication ofwhether the conductivity of the water exiting the worker bed 440 iswithin acceptable limits. In other cases, nonlinear temperaturecompensation may be utilized to adjust the conductivity value.

The water is treated in the worker bed and exits the worker bed 440 andenters a polisher bed 445 which may be, for example, a mixed bed resinion exchange column. A polisher probe S3 is disposed to measure at leastone polisher water parameter of water from the polisher bed 445. Thepolisher probe S3 may include a conductivity sensor and a temperaturesensor for providing temperature calibration for data output from theconductivity sensor of the polisher probe S3, as described above withreference to the inlet water quality probe S1. In some embodiments, theraw conductivity readings from the polisher bed water conductivitysensor may be linearly adjusted for temperatures different from areference temperature of 25° C. by temperature coefficient, e.g., 5.2%per degree C. The temperature coefficient can be adjusted locally, atthe unit or remotely, from the central server. The polisher probe S3 maybe provided on the output of the polisher column 445 to measure thequality of water exiting the polisher column 445. The polisher probe S3may include an indicator light or display (not shown) that provides anindication of whether the conductivity of the water exiting the polishercolumn 445 is within acceptable limits. The water is treated in thepolisher column 445 and exits the polisher column 445. The water exitingthe polisher column 445 may pass through a post filter 450, which maybe, for example, a column filter that filters any resin fines from thetreated water. A second flow meter 425 may be provided downstream of thepolisher bed 445. The second flow meter 425 may be provided in additionto or as an alternative to the first flow meter 425.

A monitor/controller 455, which may include features of one or both ofthe local monitor 225 and/or controller 110 illustrated in FIG. 2, maybe utilized to monitor and control aspects of the system or unit 400.The monitor/controller 455 may, for example, receive a signal from aleak detector module 460 that may provide an indication of a leak beingpresent in the system or unit 400. For, example, the leak detectormodule 460 may be disposed to close if moisture is detected in anenclosure 465 of the service deionization system 400 or on a floor orother surface upon which the enclosure 465 or the system 400 isdisposed. The monitor/controller 455 may be configured to generate anindication, alarm, or warning if the leak detection module 460 detectsmoisture in the enclosure 465. If a leak is detected, themonitor/controller 455 may send a control signal to the solenoid valveto 415 to shut down flow of water through the system. Themonitor/controller 455 may also provide a signal by a wired or wirelessconnection to a service provider to indicate that the system 400 may bein need of service. The monitor/controller 455 may be configured toreceive and monitor flow rate data via signals received from one or bothof the first and second flow meters 425 and may be configured to receiveand monitor at least one measured inlet water parameter from the inletwater quality probe S1, at least one worker water parameter from theworker probe S2, and at least one polisher water parameter from thepolisher probe S3. The probes S1, S2, and/or S3 may provide conductivitymeasurements to the monitor/controller 455 at a periodic rate, forexample, once every five seconds, or continuously. Data from the probesS1, S2, and/or S3 may be logged by the monitor/controller 455 on aperiodic basis, for example, once per five minutes. If the flow rate orwater quality measurements are outside an acceptable range themonitor/controller 455 may provide a signal by a wired or wirelessconnection to a service provider to indicate that the system 400 may bein need of service, for example, that the resin in one of the worker bed440 or polisher bed 445 may be depleted and in need of replacement orthat one of the filters 420, 450 may be clogged and in need of service.

The water treatment unit 400 (for example, the monitor/controller 455 ofthe water treatment system 400) may be in communication with a server,for example, server 510 at a centralized monitoring location 500 asillustrated in FIG. 5. The server 510 may be configured to receive fromthe local water treatment unit, at least one of the flow data, the atleast one measured inlet water parameter, the at least one worker waterparameter, and the at least one polisher water parameter.

At least one of the controller 455 and the server 510 may be furtherconfigured to determine at least one of a cumulative flow total based onan aggregate of the flow data from one or both of the first and secondflow meters 425, a billing cycle flow total based on the flow dataduring a billing cycle through the local water treatment unit 400, acurrent exchange flow total based on the flow data during a currentservice period of the worker bed, a weighted daily average flow rate asdefined below, a contaminant load based on the at least one inlet waterparameter, and a remaining capacity of the local water treatment unitbased at least on the contaminant load.

Additional sensors, for example, pressure differential sensorsassociated with the filters 420, 450, a flow sensor or flow totalizerassociated with the inlet pressure relief valve 410 or first or secondflow meters 425 may also be present and in communication with themonitor/controller 455, local monitor 225, and/or controller 110.

Certain aspects of the present disclosure are directed to a system andmethod for providing a service that allows delivery of a water productin accordance with specific quality requirements. In some instances, theproduct offering, e.g., the water product, is delivered and/or consumedby a user without the user operating any product treatment systems,e.g., without operating a water treatment system, and directly consumesthe water product having predefined quality characteristics. In someinstances, certain aspects of the disclosure allow acquisition of auser's consumption behaviour of the product, e.g., water consumption,and such data or information can then be utilized by the system owner orservice product provider to adjust, repair, replace, or maintain, anycomponent, subsystem, or parameter of, for example, the water treatmentsystem. For example, one or more local treatment units or systems can bedisposed or located at a user's facility with a plurality of ionexchange columns having a plurality of sensors or probes that monitorone or more characteristics thereof and/or one or more parameters of theraw, inlet water or feedwater, the outlet, service product water, and/orwater exiting any of the ion exchange columns. Data can thus betransmitted from the one or more treatment systems, e.g., at the userspoint of use, to an information or data storage or housing facility,typically away from the user's facility, or remotely from the watertreatment system. Data or information acquired, transmitted and/orstored can include, for example, properties of the inlet water or theproduced water quality, e.g., conductivity, pH, temperature, pressure,concentration of dissolved solids, oxidation reduction potential, orflow rate. Data acquired, transmitted, and/or stored can also includeoperating parameters of the one or more treatment systems. For example,the one or more treatment systems can deliver a deionized water productwherein the treatment system includes an ion exchange subsystem and thedata can include any one or more of pressure, both inlet and outlet,flow rate, run-time, ion exchange bed operating or service duration, oralarm conditions. Other information can include subsystemcharacteristics such as remote transmitter signal strength, ion exchangebed pressure, and/or differential pressure.

With respect to an exemplary treatment system, the system can compriseion exchange beds or columns of cation exchange resin, anion exchangeresin, or a mixture of cation and anion exchange resin. The process caninvolve delivering water having a predetermined quality, e.g., apredetermined conductivity, for a predetermined period, e.g., hourly,daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annually. For example, theprocess can provide a user with deionized water having a purity that issuitable for semiconductor manufacturing operations. The delivered watercan be deionized at the user's facility by the one or more treatmentsystems even if the treatment system is not owned or operated by theuser. The system's owner may provide the treatment system at the user'sfacility, connect the treatment system to a source of water, operate thetreatment system, monitor the operating parameters of the treatmentsystem, and deliver the treated, deionized water to the user. The systemowner may receive information or data regarding the treatment systemparameters and deionized water properties from the treatment system andstore such data. The owner may monitor the system and proactivelyservice or replace any subsystem or subcomponent of the treatment systemwithout user interaction. The owner or operator of the treatment systemthus provides a water product to the user without user interaction. Forexample, if data from the treatment system indicates that one or more ofthe ion exchange columns requires replacement, or is about to reach theend of its useful life, the owner or operator can, without userinteraction, replace any of the columns of the treatment system. Inexchange, the owner or operator is compensated by the user based onwater consumption. Alternatively, the user can compensate the owner oroperator according to a subscription, e.g., a daily, weekly, or monthlysubscription for use and availability of the deionized water product.

Although a deionized product water treated by ion exchange columns wasexemplarily described, other systems can be implemented as well. Forexample, the one or more treatment systems can utilize reverse osmosis(RO) apparatus. The owner or operator can remotely monitor the ROapparatus to ensure delivery and quality of a water product, replace ROmembranes or columns, pumps, and/or filters, of the RO apparatus. Inexchange, the user can compensate owner/operator based on quantity ofproduced water consumed, or according to a periodic subscription.

A centralized monitoring location, illustrated generally at 500 in FIG.5 may receive data from one or more local water treatment systems, forexample, from controllers 110 (and/or monitor/controllers 455, or localmonitors 225) associated with local water treatment units or systems400A, 400B, 400C at a plurality of different sites 505A, 505B, 505C. Thelocal water treatment unit or system 400A located at one of the sites,for example, site 505A may be or may include the local water treatmentunit or system 400 illustrated in FIG. 4. Another of the sites mayinclude a second local water treatment unit or system 400B. The secondlocal water treatment unit or system 400B may include unit operationssimilar to or corresponding to those of the local water treatment unitor system 400A, for example, a second inlet water quality probe(corresponding to inlet water quality probe S1 of treatment unit 400)disposed to measure at least one inlet water parameter of a secondfeedwater to be treated in the second local water treatment unit, thesecond inlet water quality probe including a second conductivity sensorand a second temperature sensor, a second worker bed (corresponding toworker bed 440 of treatment unit 400) having ion exchange mediacontained therein, and disposed to receive the second feedwater to betreated, a second worker probe (corresponding to worker probe S2 oftreatment unit 400) disposed to measure at least one water parameter ofwater from the second worker bed, the second worker probe including asecond worker conductivity sensor and a second worker temperaturesensor, a second polisher bed (corresponding to polisher bed 445 oftreatment unit 400) having ion exchange media contained therein, andfluidly connected downstream from the second worker bed, and a secondpolisher probe (corresponding to polisher probe S3 of treatment unit400) disposed to measure at least one polisher water parameter of waterfrom the second polisher bed, the second polisher probe including asecond polisher conductivity sensor and a second polisher temperaturesensor. A second flow meter (corresponding to first or second flow meter425 of treatment unit 400) is positioned at least one of upstream thesecond worker bed and downstream of the second polisher bed andconfigured to measure flow data of water introduced into the secondlocal water treatment unit. A second controller (corresponding tocontroller 455 of treatment unit 400) is in communication with thesecond flow meter, the second inlet water quality probe, the secondworker probe, and the second polisher probe. The second controller isconfigured to receive the flow data from the second flow meter, the atleast one measured inlet water parameter from the second inlet waterquality probe, the at least one worker water parameter from the secondworker probe, and the at least one polisher water parameter from thesecond polisher probe.

The second water treatment system 400B, like the water treatment system400, may be in communication with the server 510 at the centralizedmonitoring location 500. The server 510 may be further configured toreceive from the second local water treatment unit, at least one of theflow data from the second flow meter, the at least one measured inletwater parameter from the second inlet water quality probe, the at leastone worker water parameter from the second worker probe, and the atleast one polisher water parameter from the second polisher probe.

At least one of the controller 455 of local water treatment system 400and the server 510 may be further configured to determine at least oneof a cumulative flow total based on an aggregate of the flow data fromone or both of the first and second flow meters 425, a billing cycleflow total based on the flow data during a billing cycle through thelocal water treatment unit 400, a current exchange flow total based onthe flow data during a current service period of the worker bed, aweighted daily average flow rate of water through the local watertreatment unit 400, a contaminant load based on the at least one inletwater parameter, and a remaining capacity of the local water treatmentunit based at least on the contaminant load.

A second controller at the second water treatment unit 400B, which maybe substantially similar to and correspond to the controller 455 oflocal water treatment system 400 may be configured to determine at leastone of a cumulative flow total of the second water treatment unit basedon an aggregate of the flow data through the water second watertreatment unit, a second billing cycle flow total based on the flow dataduring a billing cycle through the second water treatment unit, acurrent exchange flow total based on the flow data during a currentservice period of the second worker bed, a second weighted daily averageflow rate of water through the second water treatment unit, a secondcontaminant load based on the at least one inlet water parameter of thesecond feedwater, and a remaining capacity of the second local watertreatment unit based at least on the second contaminant load.

Data from any of the units 400A, 400B, and 400C can be collected andrespectively stored in a memory device operatively connected to each ofthe respective controllers 110 and continuously transmitted throughwired or wireless communication protocols or a combination thereof toserver 510. Typically, however, data at each unit is stored andaccumulated during a predetermined collection period and thentransmitted intermittently to server 510. For example, data regardingthe various operating parameters can be continually or continuouslycollected and stored in the memory device, the controller canperiodically, e.g., every five minutes, hourly, once or twice each day,transmit through the modem to a receiving modem operatively connectedvia an internet connection to server 510 whereat the accumulated datacan be stored and analysed. In other configurations, certain data types,such as alarms and associated notifications, may be preferentiallytransmitted immediately.

The centralized monitoring location 500 may analyze the data provided bythe different controllers 110 to determine when one or more watertreatment devices 105 in the water treatment systems at the differentsites 505A, 505B, 505C should be serviced. The centralized monitoringlocation 500 may create a schedule for service of the one or more watertreatment devices 105 in the water treatment systems at the differentsites 505A, 505B, 505C and communicate service schedules to one or moreservice provider locations 515A, 515B.

In some embodiments, a system for providing treated water includes afirst water treatment unit, for example, local water treatment unit 400Aillustrated in FIG. 5. The first water treatment unit includes a firstion exchange bed having ion exchange media contained therein, forexample, any of the ion exchange columns or beds 430, 435, 440, or 445illustrated in FIG. 4. The first ion exchange bed is disposed to receivea first water stream to be treated, for example, water from the sourceof water to be treated 405 in FIG. 4. A first flow meter, for example,either of flow meters 425 in FIG. 4, is positioned along a flow pathincluding the first ion exchange bed and configured to measure a firstflow rate of the first water stream passing through the first flow path.A first controller, for example, controller 110 of FIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 ormonitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4 is in communication with the first flowmeter. The first controller is configured to receive first flow ratedata regarding the first flow rate, calculate, based on the first flowrate data, a first current average flow rate of the first water streamthrough the first ion exchange bed after a replacement of the ionexchange media at a first time, calculate a first cumulative averageflow rate through the first water treatment unit, determine a firstweighted average flow rate from a weighted average of the first currentaverage flow rate and the first cumulative average flow rate, anddetermine an estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion of the ionexchange media in the first ion exchange bed based on the first weightedaverage flow rate and a capacity of the ion exchange media of the firstion exchange bed.

In some embodiments, the first controller is configured to determine thefirst weighted average flow rate by applying a greater weighting to thefirst current average flow rate than a weighting applied to the firstcumulative average flow rate. The first controller may be configured todetermine the first weighted average flow rate by performing acalculation as follows:

first weighted average flow rate=A×(first cumulative average flowrate)+B×(first current average flow rate),  (1)

wherein 0.5<A<0.9, 0.1<B<0.5, and A+B=1.

The first controller may be further configured to schedule a secondreplacement of the ion exchange media at a second time determined fromthe estimated number of days remaining until the ion exchange media willbe exhausted.

The system for providing treated water may further include a secondwater treatment unit, for example, local water treatment unit 400Billustrated in FIG. 5, disposed remotely from the first water treatmentunit. The second water treatment unit includes a second ion exchange bedhaving ion exchange media contained therein, for example, any of the ionexchange columns or beds 430, 435, 440, or 445 illustrated in FIG. 4.The second ion exchange bed is disposed to receive a second water streamto be treated, for example, water from the source of water to be treated405 in FIG. 4. A second flow meter, for example, either of flow meters425 in FIG. 4, is positioned along a second flow path including thesecond ion exchange bed and is configured to measure a second flow rateof the second water stream passing through the second flow path. Asecond controller for example, controller 110 of FIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 ormonitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4, is in communication with the secondflow meter. The second controller is configured to receive second flowrate data regarding the second flow rate, calculate, based on the secondflow rate data, a second current average flow rate of the second waterstream through the second ion exchange bed, calculate a secondcumulative average flow rate through the second water treatment unit,determine a second weighted average flow rate from a weighted average ofthe second current average flow rate and the second cumulative averageflow rate, and determine a second estimated number of days remaining toexhaustion of the ion exchange media in the second ion exchange bedbased on the second weighted average flow rate and a capacity of the ionexchange media of the second ion exchange bed.

In some embodiments, the second controller is configured to determinethe second weighted average flow rate by performing a calculation asfollows:

second weighted average flow rate=C×(second cumulative average flowrate)+D×(second current average flow rate),  (2)

wherein 0.5<C<0.9, 0.1<D<0.5, and C+D=1.

It has been empirically determined that values of B and D in equations(1) and (2), respectively, of about 0.3 provide good results when usingthe weighted average flow rate to determine a remaining useful lifetimeor estimated time until exhaustion of an ion exchange media bed or ionexchange column in water treatment systems as disclosed herein.

A central controller, for example, the monitoring system or server 510of FIG. 5, is located at a site remote from first water treatment unitand is disposed to receive the estimated number of days remaining toexhaustion of the ion exchange media in the first ion exchange bed. Thecentral controller is further configured to receive the second estimatednumber of days remaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in thesecond ion exchange bed and determine whether to replace the ionexchange media in the first ion exchange bed and ion exchange media inthe second ion exchange bed in a same service trip. A “same servicetrip” as the term is used herein may include technicians departing froma service provider location with sufficient materials to travel to andservice, for example, replace ion exchange media (or ion exchangecartridges), in multiple ion exchange systems, optionally at differenttreatment system locations, prior to returning to the service providerlocation.

The central controller is configured to determine whether to replace theion exchange media in the first ion exchange bed and the ion exchangemedia in the second ion exchange bed in the same service trip byweighing a cost associated with regenerating the ion exchange media ofthe first ion exchange bed and the ion exchange media of the second ionexchange bed against a cost associated with different service trips toeach of the first and the second sites. For example, if one or both ofthe ion exchange media in the first ion exchange bed and the ionexchange media in the second ion exchange bed are not fully exhausted,it may require an extra $X in chemical and labor costs to regenerate theion exchange media from the first and second ion exchange beds than itmight cost to regenerate the media if it were fully exhausted. Fuel andlabor costs for separate service trips to the locations of the first andsecond ion exchange beds may be $Y. Fuel and labor costs for travel tothe locations of the first and second ion exchange beds and forservicing of same in the same service trip may be $Z. If the costsavings associated with combining the service trips is greater than theextra cost to regenerate the ion exchange media, e.g., if $Y−$Z>$X, itmay be economically beneficial to service both the first ion exchangebed and the second ion exchange bed in the same service trip rather thanin different service trips. In some cases, the central controller mayschedule replacement of a second ion exchange media (or cartridge) at asecond location, even before a determination of bed exhaustion, as partof a same service request for replacement of a first ion exchange bed(or cartridge) at a first location if the level of exhaustion of thesecond ion exchange media is within a threshold number of days.

In some embodiments, a water treatment system includes a central server,for example, the monitoring system or server 510 of FIG. 5, and aplurality of water treatment units, each water treatment unit disposedremotely from the central server, for example, local water treatmentunits 400A, 400B, and/or 400C of FIG. 5. Each respective local watertreatment unit includes ion exchange media, for example, ion exchangemedia disposed in any of the ion exchange columns or beds 430, 435, 440,or 445 illustrated in FIG. 4. The ion exchange media is disposed toreceive water to be treated, for example, water from the source of waterto be treated 405 in FIG. 4 and provide treated water. At least one flowmeter, for example, either of flow meters 425 in FIG. 4, is disposed tomonitor flow of water in the water treatment unit. The water treatmentsystem further includes a controller, for example, controller 110 ofFIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 or monitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4 that is configuredto determine, for a predetermined period, an unadjusted flow rate ofwater through the water treatment unit, determine a historical flow rateof water through the water treatment unit, determine, for the ionexchange media, at least one of an expected remaining service capacityand a predicted days to exhaustion based on the unadjusted flow rate,the historical flow rate, and a total capacity of the ion exchangemedia, and transmit at least one of the expected remaining servicecapacity and the predicted days to exhaustion to the central server.

Each of the water treatment units of the water treatment system mayfurther comprises a conductivity sensor, for example, one of the inputsensors 205 of FIG. 2 or one of sensors S1 or S2 of FIG. 4, disposed torespectively measure a conductivity of water introduced into the ionexchange media of each respective water treatment unit. The controllermay be further configured to adjust at least one of the predicted daysto exhaustion and the total capacity of the respective ion exchangemedia based on the measured conductivity from the conductivity sensor.

The central server may be configured to generate a service request toreplace ion exchange media in a particular water treatment unit if thepredicted days to exhaustion of the particular water treatment unit isless than a service lag time. The service request may include a requestfor replacement of ion exchange media in an ion exchange column orreplacement of the ion exchange column (or cartridge) as a whole.Responding to a service request may involve generating a service orderticket, determining a desired time for performing the serviceactivities, and contacting a customer to schedule the service trip.

The central server may be configured to generate a service request toreplace the respective ion exchange media in a particular watertreatment unit if the remaining capacity of the particular watertreatment unit is less than a minimum capacity. The central server maybe further configured to combine at least two service requests from atleast two different water treatment units into single aggregated servicerequest to replace respective ion exchange media of the at least twowater treatment units if a separation distance between the at least twowater treatment units is less than a maximum separation distance.

In some embodiments a service provider responsible for servicingcomponents of a water treatment system at a user's site may obtain datafrom the water treatment system and charge a fee for providing treatedwater at the user's site based on the data obtained from the watertreatment system. The fee may include a base monthly charge for anexpected amount of treated water to be produced and a surcharge for ameasured amount of treated water produced over the expected amount. Insome embodiments, a water treatment system or component thereof, forexample, one or more of the ion exchange columns 430, 435, 440, 445illustrated in FIG. 4 may have a finite capacity for treating waterhaving a certain impurity concentration before the water treatmentsystem or component thereof becomes depleted or should be serviced. Anion exchange column, for example, may have a capacity for removing acertain amount of undesirable ions from water passing through the ionexchange column before resin in the ion exchange column may need to beregenerated or replaced.

A service provider, who, in some implementations may also be the ownerof a water treatment system providing treated water at a user's site,may monitor parameters of influent water to be treated, for example,flow rate and water quality. These parameters may be collected by acontroller 110 and/or monitor/controllers 455, or local monitors 225 asdescribed above and communicated to a central server 510 or service hubat a centralized monitoring system 500 as illustrated in FIG. 5. Theservice provider may charge a fee for producing the treated water forthe user that is based at least in part on the parameters of theinfluent water to be treated, for example, flow rate and water quality.The fee for providing treated water over a predetermined time period,for example, over a week, a month, or a year, may be based on an averageflow rate and average water quality over the predetermined time period.In calculating the average flow rate and/or average water quality overthe predetermined time period outliers in the flow rate or water qualitydata may be removed to provide a better indication of steady stateoperation of the water treatment system.

A service deionization system such as illustrated in FIG. 4 is oneexample of a water treatment system or unit at a user's site that aservice provider may maintain and service and charge the user fortreating influent water to produce treated water at the user's site.Resin beds in the ion exchange columns 430, 435, 440, 445 may have alimited capacity for removing ionic contaminants from water undergoingtreatment at the user's site. The ion exchange columns may beperiodically serviced by the service provider to, for example, replaceion exchange media in the ion exchange columns. A fee that the serviceprovider charges for the provision of the treated water at the user'ssite may be based at least partially on costs associated with replacingthe ion exchange media in the ion exchange columns and the frequency atwhich such service is performed.

The time between instances of service to replace ion exchange media inan ion exchange column may be calculated based on a water qualityparameter such as concentration of ionic contaminants in influent waterto be treated and a flow rate of water through the water treatmentsystem. A conductivity sensor (e.g., one of the input sensors 205illustrated in FIG. 2 or one of sensors S1 or S2 in FIG. 4) may beutilized to measure the concentration of ionic contaminants in theinfluent water to be treated. A flow sensor (e.g., another of the inputsensor 205 illustrated in FIG. 2 or the output sensors 215 or internalsensors 210 illustrated in FIG. 2 or one of the flow meters 425 of FIG.4) may be utilized to measure the flow rate of water being treated inthe water treatment system at the user's site. Based on measurementsfrom the conductivity sensor and the flow sensor(s) in the watertreatment system, the service provider may determine a frequency atwhich the ion exchange column(s) should be serviced. The capacity of theion exchange columns is based on the types of resin used and the amountof resin used. The capacity is expressed in grains. The total amount ofwater that can be treated is based on the capacity of the ion exchangecolumns and contaminant load in the feedwater as expressed by itsconductivity. The conversion equations are as follows:

Conductivity (uS/CM)×Cond_TDS_Conv_Factor=Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)(units are PPM)  (3)

TDS/PPM_GPG_Conv_Factor=Contaminant_Load (units are grains/gallon)  (4)

The Cond_TDS_Conv_Factor and PPM_GPG_Conv_Factor factors in the aboveequations may be empirically determined.

In some configurations, capacity calculations may begin (or may bereset) when the ion exchange columns are exchanged. When water beginsflowing through the ion exchange columns the feedwater conductivity isconverted to Contaminant_Load per equations (3) and (4) above. Eachgallon of water that flows reduces the ion exchange column capacity bygallons flowed×Contaminant_Load. At the beginning of each day, thesystem computes the projected days left until ion exchange columnexhaustion (Projected Days Left) by using the previous days averageconductivity, the 10 day average flow total and current remainingcapacity per the following equation:

(CurrentRemainingCapacity/(AverageDailyConductivity*Cond_TDS_Conv_Factor/PPM_GPG_Conv_Factor))/10DayAverageFlowTotal=ProjectedDaysLeft  (5)

The projected days left is compared to a projected days alarm setpoint.If it is less than the setpoint and a projected days left alarm isgenerated.

If the percent of remaining capacity is less than a remaining capacityalarm setpoint, a remaining capacity alarm is generated.

Alternatively, capacity determination may be based on a historicallyweighted calculation of average flow rate weighted relative to the pastday flow rate. For example, a historical daily average flow rate and theprior day average flow rate can be weighted, e.g., 1:1, 2:1, 3:1, 4:1,5:1, 6:1, 7:1, 3:2, 4:3, 5:2, 5:3, 6:5, 7:2, 7:3, 7:4, 7:5, and 7:6, canbe used.

In some embodiments, an estimated number of days remaining untilexhaustion of the ion exchange bed in an ion exchange column of a watertreatment system is based on the current exchange daily average flowrate and the cumulative average flow rate of water through the ionexchange bed. The current exchange daily average flow rate may becalculated as the average flow rate of water per day through the ionexchange bed. In other cases, if an ion exchange bed was replaced orexchanged on a first day (day 1) and the flow rate of water through theion exchange bed was 100 gallons, 110 gallons, and 105 gallons on days1-3, respectively, the current exchange daily average flow rate as ofday 3 would be (100+110+105)/3=105 gallons per day. The cumulativeaverage flow rate may be calculated as the average flow rate of waterper day through the ion exchange bed since the ion exchange columnhousing the ion exchange bed was installed or the system was initiallyput into operation. For example, if the ion exchange bed was inoperation for 100 days and the total amount of water flowed through theion exchange bed over those 100 days was 10,000 gallons, the cumulativeaverage flow rate at the end of the 100 days would be 10,000/100=100gallons/day. Alternatively, the cumulative average flow rate may becalculated as the average flow rate of water per day through the ionexchange bed for all available historical flow rates of water per daythrough the ion exchange bed or as the average flow rate of water perday through the ion exchange bed for only a set number of time periodsbetween past instances of replacing or exchanging the ion exchange bed.Calculating the cumulative daily average flow rate may includecalculating the average daily flow rate of water for a plurality ofperiods including a plurality of instances of replacing the ion exchangebed. Calculating the cumulative daily average flow rate of water mayinclude calculating a prior period average daily flow rate of waterthrough the water treatment system for a time period including apredetermined number of instances of replacing the ion exchange bedimmediately preceding a receipt of indication of replacement of the ionexchange bed. The prior period average daily flow rate is the averagedaily flow rate of water through an ion exchange column between one ormore instances of replacing the ion exchange media of the ion exchangecolumn prior to the most recent replacement of the ion exchange media.Calculating the prior period average daily flow rate of water mayinclude applying a greater weight to flow rates of water through the ionexchange bed closer in time to the current period than to flow rates ofwater through the water treatment system further in time from thecurrent period. The prior period average daily flow rate may be utilizedas the cumulative daily average flow rate in some embodiments disclosedherein.

The estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion of an ion exchangebed or ion exchange column may be based on a current tank capacity ofthe ion exchange bed, an average conductivity of the water for thecurrent period since the ion exchange bed or column was previouslyexchanged or replaced, and the daily average flow rate of water throughthe ion exchange bed since the ion exchange bed or column was previouslyexchanged or replaced. Accordingly, determining the estimated number ofdays remaining to exhaustion of an ion exchange bed or ion exchangecolumn may include measuring a conductivity of the water to be treatedduring a current period, determining a current average conductivity ofwater to be treated during the current period, and utilizing the currentaverage conductivity of water to be treated in an equation fordetermining the estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion of anion exchange bed or ion exchange column. The current averageconductivity of water to be treated may be used as, for example, theAverage Daily Conductivity in equation (5) above. Additionally oralternatively, determining the estimated number of days remaining toexhaustion of an ion exchange bed or ion exchange column may includeperforming a calculation as follows:

$\begin{matrix}{{D_{remaining} = \left\lbrack \frac{{TC}_{current}}{\begin{matrix}{\left( {\rho_{current} \times {conversion}\mspace{14mu} {factor}} \right) \times} \\\left\lbrack {\left( {w_{cumulative} \times F_{cumulative}} \right) + \left( {w_{cuurrent} \times F_{current}} \right)} \right\rbrack\end{matrix}} \right\rbrack},} & (6)\end{matrix}$

where,w_(cumulative) is the weighting factor applied on the cumulative dailyaverage flow rate,w_(current) is the weighting factor applied on the current average flowrate,w_(cumulative)+w_(current)=1. 0.5≤w_(cumulative)≤0.9,0.1<w_(current)<0.5,F_(cumulative)=cumulative daily average flow rate,F_(current)=current average flow rate,D_(remaining)=estimated number of days remaining to exhaustion,TC_(current)=current tank capacity,ρ_(current)=current daily average conductivity,

When determining the estimated number of days remaining until exhaustionof the ion exchange bed a weighted daily average flow rate may bedetermined by applying a greater weighting to the cumulative dailyaverage flow rate than a weighting applied to the current exchange dailyaverage flow rate. The weighted daily average flow rate may be utilizedin a calculation for determining the estimated number of days remaininguntil exhaustion of the ion exchange bed, for example, as the averageflow utilized to calculate the 10 Day Average Flow Total in equation (5)above. Determining the weighted daily average flow rate may include, forexample, performing a calculation as follows:

F _(weighted)=[(w _(cumulative))×(F _(cumulative))]+[(w _(current))×(F_(current))]  (7)

wherein,

F_(weighted)=weighted daily average flow rate,

F_(current)=current exchange daily average flow rate,

F_(cumulative)=cumulative daily average flow rate,

0.5≤w_(cumulative)≤0.9,

0.1<w_(current)<0.5,

w_(cumulative)+w_(current)=1.

In various embodiments, 0.2<w_(current)<0.4 and/or w_(current) is about0.3. It has been empirically determined that a value of w_(current) inequation (7) of about 0.3 provide good results when using the weightedaverage flow rate to determine a remaining useful lifetime or estimatedtime until exhaustion of an ion exchange media bed or ion exchangecolumn in water treatment systems as disclosed herein.

The calculations referenced above may be performed locally at a watertreatment system, for example, utilizing the controller 110 illustratedin FIG. 1A or 2, or utilizing the monitor/controller 455 illustrated inFIG. 4, or may be performed at the monitoring system or server 510 at acentralized monitoring location 500 located at a distance from the watertreatment system or systems being monitored as illustrated in FIG. 5.

Based on the estimated number of days remaining until exhaustion of theion exchange bed a request for replacement of the ion exchange bed maybe generated. This request may be generated locally at a water treatmentsystem, for example, utilizing the controller 110 illustrated in FIG. 1Aor 2, or utilizing the monitor/controller 455 illustrated in FIG. 4, andmay be transmitted to the monitoring system or server 510 at thecentralized monitoring location 500. Alternatively, the request forreplacement of the ion exchange bed may be generated by the monitoringsystem or server 510 at the centralized monitoring location 500 itself.

The service provider may schedule servicing of the ion exchangecolumn(s) so that the ion exchange column(s) are serviced while stillhaving a certain amount of treatment capacity, for example, 10%treatment capacity remaining (a remaining capacity alarm setpoint of10%) to provide a safety margin to prevent the treated water fromachieving an unacceptable quality. The service provider may also oralternatively schedule servicing of the ion exchange column(s) at a setperiod of time, for example, from five to ten days before the treatmentcapacity of the ion exchange column(s) is expected to become depleted.The service provider may set a fee for production of specified volume oftreated water at the user's site based on the calculated frequency atwhich the ion exchange column(s) should be serviced.

The service provider may also or alternatively schedule service of thewater treatment system based on alarms or out of control signalsprovided by the water treatment system. The alarms or out of controlsignals may be sent responsive to one or more monitored parameterexceeding a setpoint or being outside of an expected range (e.g., 5% ormore above a five day average or a 10 day average) at a single point intime or for a period of time, for example, for five days or more. Forexample, for a service deionization system such as illustrated in FIG.4, worker probe S2 may provide an indication that the conductivity ofwater exiting the ion exchange column 440 is increasing to a levelindicative of imminent depletion of the ion exchange bed in the ionexchange column 440. The service provider may receive a notification ofthe indication from worker probe S2 via, for example, themonitor/controller 455 and may schedule service of the ion exchangecolumn 440. Based on the conductivity readings from the worker probe S2and the measured flow rate through the system, the service provider maycalculate a remaining treatment capacity of the ion exchange bed in theion exchange column 445 and adjust a schedule for servicing the ionexchange column 445 accordingly. In some embodiments, the ion exchangecolumn 440 should be serviced within about two days from the indicationprovided from the sensor S1. Additionally, if the polisher probe S3provides an indication that the conductivity of the water exiting theion exchange column 445 is approaching or exceeding an unacceptablelevel, if the leak sensor 460 provides an indication of a water leak, orif a pressure sensor or sensors (e.g., one or more of sensors 205, 210,or 215 of FIG. 2) provides an indication of an unacceptable orunacceptably trending pressure across one or more components of thetreatment system, the service provider may schedule a service call toservice one or more of the components of the water treatment system.

The service provider may also or alternatively schedule service based onone or more signals indicative of a potential system problem from one ofthe ancillary systems 150A, 150B, 150C illustrated in FIG. 1B, forexample, failure of a pump, unexpectedly high power draw from one of theancillary systems, unacceptable pressure drop across one of theancillary systems, etc. Any alerts, alarms, or out of control signalsprovided to the service provider may also or alternatively be providedto a user of the treated water produced by the water treatment system,an operator of the water treatment system or a component thereof, or anowner of the system or component thereof if the owner is not the serviceprovider.

In some embodiments, the central server 510 located at the centralizedmonitoring location 500 may determine when and which components of watertreatment systems at various user or customer sites 505A, 505B, 505Cshould be serviced. The central server located at the centralizedmonitoring location 500 may communicate a service schedule to one ormore service provider locations 515A, 515B. The central server 510located at the centralized monitoring location 500 may send servicerequests or schedules to one or one or more service provider locations515A, 515B that optimize factors such as travel time between the serviceprovider locations 515A, 515B and sites at which equipment may be inneed of service. For example, the central server may send a serviceschedule to a service provider location that is closer to a site havingequipment that should be serviced than another service providerlocation. The central server may adjust the service schedule so that oneor more components of a water treatment system at one of user orcustomer sites 505A, 505B, 505C is serviced earlier or later thanoptimal based on the remaining treatment capacity of the one or morecomponents if doing so would provide for multiple components to beserviced in a single service trip and thus cause an overall reduction incosts by reducing a number of individual service trips that are taken bythe service provider. For example, if service is scheduled to replace anion exchange column (or columns) at a first site, and a second siteclose to the first site has one or more ion exchange columns that have aremaining capacity of less than about 10% more than their remainingcapacity alarm setpoint and/or a Projected Days Left of a week or less,replacement of the ion exchange column(s) at the second site may bescheduled to be performed during a same service trip to replace the ionexchange column(s) at the first site.

Costs associated with regenerating ion exchange columns may also befactored into decisions on when to replace ion exchange columnsapproaching exhaustion at different sites. With some ion exchangecolumns if the resin in the ion exchange column still has remainingtreatment capacity, the resin bed may be first completely exhaustedprior to being regenerated. To exhaust the resin bed, additionalchemicals may be passed through the resin bed. More chemicals may berequired to exhaust and then regenerate an ion exchange column with 20%remaining capacity than a similar ion exchange column with 10% remainingcapacity. The chemicals used to exhaust a resin bed in an ion exchangecolumn have an associated cost. Accordingly, if, in the example above,costs (e.g., fuel costs and worker time) associated with travel to thesecond site in addition to costs associated with the chemicals used forregenerating the ion exchange columns at the second site earlier thannecessary exceed costs (e.g., fuel, labor, etc.) that might beassociated with replacing the ion exchange columns at the second site ina different service trip than the service trip for replacing the ionexchange column(s) at the first site, different service trips for thetwo different sites may be scheduled instead of just one.

In some embodiments, for example, a first water treatment system may belocated at a first site and a second water treatment system may belocated at a second site at a distance from the first site. A method ofservicing the water treatment systems at the first and second sites mayinclude determining whether to replace the ion exchange bed of the watertreatment system at the first site and a second ion exchange bed of atthe water treatment system at the second site in a same service trip.Determining whether to replace both the ion exchange bed of the firstwater treatment system at the first site and the second ion exchange bedof the second water treatment system at the second site in the sameservice trip may include weighing a cost associated with regeneratingthe ion exchange bed from the first site and the ion exchange bed fromthe second site against a cost associated with different service tripsto the first and the second sites. Further, the first water treatmentsystem may be located at a first site in a network of a plurality ofdifferent sites each including at least one water treatment systemhaving an ion exchange bed, and the method of servicing the watertreatment systems may further include determining a subset of ionexchange beds of the plurality of sites to be replaced in a same servicetrip.

Components of a water treatment system which may be serviced by aservice provider are not limited to ion exchange columns and the waterquality parameter or parameters used to determine when to service thecomponents water treatment systems are not limited to conductivity orionic concentration and flow rate. In other embodiments, a watertreatment system may include a turbidity sensor upstream of one or morewater treatment devices. The one or more water treatment devices mayhave a limited capacity for removing turbidity from water undergoingtreatment in the one or more water treatment devices. The one or morewater treatment devices may include, for example, a filter (e.g., a sandfilter or other form of solids-liquid separation filter) that has alimited capacity for removal of solids from water before becomingclogged or otherwise rendered ineffective for further treatment ofturbidity. The flow rate of water through the one or more watertreatment devices and the turbidity of the water to be treated may bemonitored to determine an expected service lifetime of the one or morewater treatment devices. Service of the one or more water treatmentdevices may then be scheduled to be performed prior to the end of theservice lifetime of the one or more water treatment devices.

In another example, the one or more water treatment devices may includea pressure-driven separation device, for example, a nanofiltrationdevice or a reverse osmosis device and the parameters used to determinewhen the one or more water treatment devices should be serviced includepH and/or temperature measured by one or more pH or temperature sensorsupstream, downstream, or within the one or more water treatment devices.

One method of providing treated water utilizing embodiments of thesystem disclosed herein is illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 6,indicated generally at 600. In act 605 of the method, water is treatedin a water treatment unit, for example, that described with reference toany of FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2, and 4, for a predetermined period of time toproduce treated water. The predetermined period of time may correspondto a billing cycle of a vendor or service provider who services thewater treatment unit, operates the water treatment unit on behalf of acustomer, or who owns the water treatment unit. The predetermined periodof time may be, for example, a week, a month, three months, or any othersuitable period of time. During the predetermined period of time, avolume of the water or feedwater to be treated and/or the treated waterprovided by the water treatment unit is measured utilizing a sensorpositioned in the water treatment unit, for example, one of theancillary devices 105A, 105B, 105C of FIG. 1B, the input or outputsensors 205, 215 of FIG. 2, or one or both of the flow meters 425 ofFIG. 4. (Act 610.) In some embodiments, after measuring the volume ofthe treated water provided by the water treatment unit in act 610, acumulative volume of treated water provided by the water treatment unitmay be determined (act 615). The cumulative volume of water treated maybe based on the measured volume of the treated water or a volumecalculated from the weighted daily average flow rate (see equation (7)above) multiplied by the number of days since a previous exchange orreplacement of ion exchange media in the water treatment unit. Duringthe predetermined period of time, one or more parameters of water to betreated in the water treatment system is monitored utilizing a waterquality sensor positioned in the water treatment unit, for example,using the ancillary device 105A of FIG. 1B or one of the input sensors205 of FIG. 2. (Act 615.) Monitoring the one or more parameters of thewater to be treated may comprise monitoring a conductivity of the waterto be treated. The average of the value of the one or more parameters ofthe water to be treated during the predetermined period of time may becalculated in act 625.

The method further includes calculating a difference between thecumulative volume of the provided treated water during the predeterminedperiod of time and a baseline volume of treated water to be providedduring the predetermined period of time (act 630) and determining a feeadjustment for providing the treated water based at least on thecalculated difference between the cumulative volume of the providedtreated water and the baseline volume of treated water to be provided(act 635). The fee adjustment may also be based on the monitoredparameter, the average of the value of the monitored parameter duringthe predetermined period of time, and/or a difference between themonitored parameter and an expected value of the monitored parameter.The fee adjustment may be an adjustment to a base fee for providing thetreated water during the predetermined period of time that is determinedbased on at least one of an expected volume of the feedwater to betreated during the predetermined period of time and an expected value ofthe parameter of the water to be treated during the predetermined periodof time.

In act 640, a remaining service life of the water treatment unit may bepredicted based on at least one of the measured volume of the treatedwater provided and/or a cumulative volume of the feedwater directedthrough the water treatment unit during the predetermined period of timeand the monitored parameter. In some embodiments, the monitoredparameter relates to a conductivity of the water to be treated. Theremaining service life of the water treatment unit may be determinedbased at least on the cumulative volume of treated water and on themonitored parameter or an average of the value of the monitoredparameter during the predetermined period of time and/or a treatmentcapacity of the water treatment unit. The remaining service life may bedetermined in accordance with equation (6) above.

In act 645 data regarding any of the monitored or calculated parameters,for example, data indicative of one or more of: cumulative volume ofwater to be treated during the predetermined period of time, expectedvolume of water to be treated during the predetermined period of time,volume of treated water provided during the predetermined period oftime, measured parameter of the water to be treated during thepredetermined period of time, and expected value of the parameter of thewater to be treated during the predetermined period of time may be madeavailable to a user of the water to be treated (a customer) or a vendoror service provider responsible for operating or servicing the watertreatment system. This data may be made available, for example, via aweb portal (e.g., web portal 120 of FIG. 1A) and/or transmitted to acentral server remote from the water treatment system (e.g., server 510of FIG. 5). In some embodiments, a schedule for service of the watertreatment system may be determined without input from a user of thetreated water, for example, based on the data provided to the centralserver.

The method of FIG. 6 may be performed for any number of water treatmentunits, for example, a first water treatment unit located at site 1,illustrated in FIG. 5 and a second water treatment unit located at site2 illustrated in FIG. 5, remote from the first water treatment unit.

FIG. 7 illustrates various actions that may be performed responsive todata gathered or calculated in the method of FIG. 6. In the flowchartindicated generally at 700, in act 705, the water treatment system istreating water. During treatment of the water, the water treatmentsystem, or associated monitor(s) or controller (local or remote) maycheck the status of various parameters or conditions of the watertreatment system. Any one or more of these various parameters orconditions may be checked continuously, on a predetermined schedule,sequentially, or concurrently. One condition that may be checked iswhether the system is in need of or will soon be in need of service (act710). To determine if the system is in need of service, a remainingservice life of the system, determined, for example, in act 640 of themethod illustrated in FIG. 6, is compared against a service-initiatinglife of the water treatment unit. If the remaining service life is lessthan a service-initiating life of the water treatment unit, service ofthe water treatment unit may be scheduled (act 715). The water treatmentsystem or associated monitor(s) or controller may also check whether amonitored parameter of the treated water provided by the system, forexample, conductivity, particle level, ORP, or any of the otherparameters described with reference to the ancillary devices of FIG. 1Bor output sensor(s) of FIG. 2 is outside of a desired range (act 720).If the monitored parameter is outside of the desired range, the systemor associated monitor(s) or controller may at least one of: generate analarm, send a notification to a user, or schedule service of the watertreatment unit (acts 715, 725). If the monitored parameter is within thedesired range the water treatment unit may continue treating water,optionally after performing checks of one or more additional conditions.Another parameter that may be checked or monitored by the system orassociated monitor(s) or controller may be pressure across the watertreatment unit (act 730). If the monitored pressure exceeds apredetermined differential pressure unit, the system or associatedmonitor(s) or controller may at least one of: generate an alarm, send anotification to a user, or schedule or initiate service of the watertreatment unit (acts 735, 725). If the pressure across the watertreatment unit is within an acceptable range, the water treatment unitmay continue treating water, optionally after performing checks of oneor more additional conditions. Notification may be any one or more of atext message, e.g., SMS or MMS, email message, a haptic alarm, anaudible alarm, and a visual alarm.

A method of remotely monitoring water treatment units is illustrated inthe flowchart of FIG. 8, indicated generally at 800. Act 805 involvesreceiving at a central server, for example, server 510 of FIG. 5, datafrom a first water treatment unit that produces a first treated waterdelivered to a first facility the central server is disposed remotelyfrom. The data may be representative of at least one of a volume of afirst feedwater to be treated in the first water treatment unit, avolume of the first treated water, and a conductivity of the firstfeedwater, during a first predetermined period.

Act 810, which may be performed concurrently or sequentially with act805, involves receiving at the central server, data from a second watertreatment unit that produces a second treated water delivered to asecond facility that is disposed remotely from the first facility andthat the central server is disposed remotely from. The data may berepresentative of at least one of a volume of a second feedwater to betreated in the second water treatment unit, a volume of the secondtreated water, and a conductivity of the second feedwater, during asecond predetermined period.

In act 815, a first base fee for providing the first treated water overthe first predetermined period is determined based on at least one of anexpected volume of the first feedwater to be treated and an expectedvalue of the conductivity of the first feedwater.

In act 820, a second base fee for providing the second treated waterover the second predetermined period is determined based on at least oneof an expected volume of the second feedwater to be treated and anexpected value of the conductivity of the second feedwater.

In act 825, a first fee adjustment for providing the first treated wateris determined based on the first base fee and a difference between anactual and the expected volume of the first feedwater. The first feeadjustment may further be based on the conductivity of the firstfeedwater during the first predetermined period.

In act 830, second fee adjustment for providing the second treated wateris determined based on the second base fee and a difference between anactual and the expected volume of the second feedwater. The second feeadjustment may be further based on the conductivity of the secondfeedwater during the second predetermined period.

In act 835, a remaining treatment capacity of the first water treatmentunit is determined based at least on at least one of a cumulative volumeof the first feedwater and the conductivity of the first feedwaterdirected through the first water treatment unit.

In act 840, a remaining treatment capacity of the second water treatmentunit based at least on at least one of a cumulative volume of the secondfeedwater and the conductivity of the second feedwater directed throughthe second water treatment unit.

In act 845, a first service requirement for the first water treatmentunit is initiated based on a cumulative volume of the first feedwatertreated in the first treatment unit.

In act 850, a second service requirement for the second water treatmentunit is initiated based on a cumulative volume of the second feedwatertreated in the second treatment unit.

In act 855, a route for a service provider to service the first watertreatment unit and the second water treatment unit is generated based atleast in part on locations of each of the first facility and the secondfacility.

In some embodiments, a method of providing treated water, illustrated inthe flow chart of FIG. 9 and indicated generally at 900, includesreceiving, at a remote server, for example, the monitoring system orserver 510 of FIG. 5, at least one of a remaining capacity and anestimated period remaining to exhaustion of a first ion exchange bed,for example, one of the ion exchange columns or beds 430, 435, 440, or445 illustrated in FIG. 4, at a first treatment unit, for example, localwater treatment unit 400A of FIG. 5 (act 905). The first treatment unitis configured to monitor a flow rate of water through the first ionexchange bed of the first treatment unit configured to deliver treatedwater to a first point of use utilizing, for example, a flow meter suchas either of flow meters 425 in FIG. 4. The first treatment unit isconfigured to calculate, for example, utilizing controller 110 of FIG.1A, 1B, or 3 or monitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4, a first average flowrate of water through the first ion exchange bed for a predefined timeperiod. The first treatment unit is further configured to determine afirst average conductivity of the water into the first ion exchange bedduring the predefined time period utilizing, for example, one of theinput sensors 205 of FIG. 2 or sensor S1 or S2 of FIG. 4, and determineat least one of the remaining capacity and the estimated periodremaining to exhaustion of the first ion exchange bed based on the firstaverage flow rate, the first average conductivity, and a firsthistorical average flow rate of water through the first treatment unitutilizing, for example, utilizing controller 110 of FIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 ormonitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4. The method further includes receiving,at the remote server, at least one of a remaining capacity and anestimated period remaining to exhaustion of a second ion exchange bed,for example, one of the ion exchange columns or beds 430, 435, 440, or445 illustrated in FIG. 4, of a second treatment unit located remotefrom the first treatment unit, for example, local water treatment unit400B of FIG. 5 (act 910). The second treatment unit is configured tomonitor a flow rate of water through the second ion exchange bed of thesecond treatment unit configured to deliver treated water to a secondpoint of use utilizing, for example a flow meter such as either of flowmeters 425 in FIG. 4. The second treatment unit is further configured tocalculate, for example, utilizing controller 110 of FIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 ormonitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4, a second average flow rate of waterthrough the second ion exchange bed for the predefined time period, anddetermine a second average conductivity of the water into the second ionexchange bed during the predefined time period utilizing, for example,one of the input sensors 205 of FIG. 2 or sensor S1 or S2 of FIG. 4. Thesecond treatment unit is further configured to determine at least one ofthe remaining capacity and the estimated time to exhaustion of thesecond ion exchange bed of the second treatment unit based on the secondaverage flow rate, the second average conductivity, and a secondhistorical average flow rate of water through the second treatment unit,for example, utilizing controller 110 of FIG. 1A, 1B, or 3 ormonitor/controller 455 of FIG. 4.

The controllers may determine the at least one of the remaining capacityand the estimated period remaining to exhaustion of the first ionexchange bed and/or the second ion exchange bed by weighting the firstaverage flow rate relative to the first historical average flow rateaccording to a ratio ranging from about 2:8 to about 4:6.

Responsive to receiving the remaining capacity and/or estimated periodremaining to exhaustion of a first and second ion exchange beds, theremote server may determine when the first and second ion exchange bedsshould be replaced or exchanged (act 915). The remote server maydetermine if the remaining capacities and/or times at which the firstand second ion exchange beds should be replaced are sufficiently closethat it is economically beneficial, for example, in terms of fuel andlabor costs, and costs associated with regenerating an incompletelyexhausted ion exchange bed, to service both the first and second ionexchange beds in the same service trip (act 920). If so, the remoteserver may schedule a single service trip in which both the first andsecond ion exchange beds will be replaced or exchanged (act 925). If itis not economically beneficial to service both the first and second ionexchange beds in the same service trip, the remote server schedulesdifferent service trips for the first and second ion exchange beds,respectively (act 930).

An example of a method of determining an estimated remaining daysremaining until exhaustion of an ion exchange bed is illustrated in FIG.10, indicated generally at 1000. In a first series of acts beginning at1005, the average flow rate of water through the ion exchange bed iscalculated. In act 1010 it is determined whether or not there has been aprevious exchange or replacement of the ion exchange bed. If so, aweighted daily average flow is calculated in act 1020 by adding theaverage daily flow rate between previous instances of exchanging orreplacing the ion exchange bed, multiplied by a factor of 70% to thecurrent exchange daily average flow rate multiplied by a factor of 30%.This is equivalent to performing the calculation of equation (7) abovewith w_(cumulative) set to 0.7 and w_(current) set to 0.3. If there hasnot been a previous exchange or replacement of the ion exchange bed,there is no weighted daily average flow and the average flow is set tothe current exchange daily average flow rate in act 1015. Typically,prior to initial service, the weighting factors could involve primarilyor even only weighting based on the current average flow rate, withoutany weighting on the cumulative average flow rate.

In act 1025, the average flow (or weighted daily average flow) ischecked to determine if the average flow (or weighted daily averageflow) is equal to zero. If the average flow (or weighted daily averageflow) is equal to zero then the ion exchange bed capacity in days (the“Projected Days”) is set to zero in act 1030. If the average flow (orweighted daily average flow) is not equal to zero then the ion exchangebed capacity in days (the “Projected Days”) is set to the systemcapacity (in gallons of water treatable prior to exhaustion) divided bythe determined average flow (or weighted daily average flow) in act1035. The value for the determined Projected Days is recorded in act1040.

In act 1045 the average flow (or weighted daily average flow) is againchecked to determine if the average flow (or weighted daily averageflow) is equal to zero. If the average flow (or weighted daily averageflow) is equal to zero the estimated days left until exhaustion of theion exchange bed is set to the Projected Days divided by the averageflow (or weighted daily average flow) in act 1050. If the average flow(or weighted daily average flow) is not equal to zero, the estimateddays left until exhaustion of the ion exchange bed is set to zero in act1055. The estimated days left until exhaustion of the ion exchange bedis recorded in act 1060.

In another embodiment, the condition of the water treatment system,e.g., the remaining operating capacity or days of remaining servicelife, may be effected according to the steps presented at FIG. 12. Theconductivity of the water to be introduced into and deionized in the ionexchange bed is monitored. If no average flow rate for the previous daywas determined, then the remaining number of days to exhaustionassociated with the ion exchange cartridge or bed is unchanged from theprevious value, as well as the number of days associated with theremaining capacity, i.e., the ion exchange cartridge or bed. Ifotherwise and a replacement of the ion exchange cartridge is noted, thenthe remaining days to exhaustion is set to the default or factorysetting, as well as the current capacity. Absent an exchange, thecurrent capacity, the cumulative average flow rate through the watertreatment system, and the average current exchange flow rate through theion exchange cartridge (or bed) are retrieved, typically from memory.These retrieved values are utilized in determining a new days remainingto exhaustion of the cartridge, a new current or remaining tankcapacity, a new cumulative average flow rate through the water treatmentsystem, and a new current exchange average flow rate through the ionexchange cartridge (since replacement or exchange). The new determinedcumulative average flow rate is stored in memory to replace thepreviously stored value. The new determined current exchange averageflow rate is stored in memory to replace the previously stored value.The new determined current tank capacity is stored in memory to replacethe previously stored value. The new determined days remaining toexhaustion of the cartridge is stored in memory and typicallytransmitted to a central server (not shown). Determination of thecumulative average flow rate through the water treatment system can beperformed by aggregating all flow rate through the water treatmentsystem since location installation (for all ion exchange cartridges) anddividing by the time (e.g., number of days) during which flow is presentthrough the water treatment system. Determination of the currentexchange average flow rate can be performed by aggregation all flow ratethrough the currently installed ion exchange cartridge or ion exchangebed and dividing by the time (e.g., number of days) during which flowoccurs through such currently installed cartridge. Determination of thedays remaining to exhaustion can be performed based on the current tankcapacity and dividing by the weighted or effective flow rate which, insome embodiments, can be determined by weighting the cumulative averageflow rate and weighting the current exchange average flow rate, with, insome cases, a stronger bias toward the cumulative average flow raterelative to the current exchange average flow rate.

Example 1: Method of Determination of a Fee for Provision of PurifiedWater

Fee adjustments applied to an invoice to a consumer of treated water maybe determined in proportion to the amount of treated water above orbelow the volume that was expected to be provided during a billingperiod, or may be adjusted in a tiered fashion based on the differencebetween actual and expected volume of treated water provided during thebilling period.

In an example of a proportional fee adjustment schedule, if a consumerof treated water was expected to use X gallons of treated water during abilling period, the consumer may receive a fee adjustment credit thatmay be applied to an invoice for the billing period or subsequentbilling period for each gallon less than the expected volume that wasprovided during the billing period. The consumer may receive a feeadjustment charge that may be applied to an invoice for the billingperiod or subsequent billing period for each gallon more than theexpected volume that was provided during the billing period. The amountof the credit provided per gallon below the expected volume providedneed not be the same as the charge per gallon above the expected volumeprovided, although it may be. In some embodiments, consumers of treatedwater may receive a fee adjustment charge for excess treated waterproduction, but may not be entitled to a fee adjustment credit forconsuming less than the expected volume of treated water.

In an example of a tiered fee adjustment schedule, if a consumer oftreated water was expected to use X gallons of treated water during abilling period, the consumer may receive a fee adjustment credit thatmay be applied to an invoice for the billing period or subsequentbilling period if the consumer consumed at least Y gallons less (a firsttier) than the expected volume during the billing period. If theconsumer consumed less than the expected volume but no more than Ygallons less, the consumer would not be entitled to the credit. Anadditional credit may be provided to the consumer if the consumerconsumed at least Z gallons less (a second tier) than the expectedvolume during the billing period, Z>Y. In some embodiments Z may equal2*Y. Additional credits may be provided for additional tiers of waterconsumption below the expected volume. The volume of water correspondingto intervals between each sequential tier may correspond to the samevolume of water (e.g., Z=2*Y), although the intervals between sequentialtiers may correspond to greater or lesser volumes of water. The amountof credit for consuming less water in different sequential tiers may bea multiple of the credit for consuming less water than that associatedwith the first tier. For example, the consumer may receive a credit of$A for consuming a sufficiently low volume of water to reach the firstcredit tier and $2*A for consuming a sufficiently low volume of water toreach the second credit tier (and $3*A for reaching third credit tier,etc.). In other embodiments, the consumer may receive greater or lessthan a multiple of the credit for consuming less water than thatassociated with the first tier for consuming a sufficiently low volumeof water to reach the second credit tier or further sequential credittiers.

The consumer may receive a fee adjustment charge that may be applied toan invoice for the billing period or subsequent billing period if theconsumer consumed at least N gallons more (a first tier) than theexpected volume during the billing period. If the consumer consumed morethan the expected volume but less than N gallons more, the consumerwould not be charged the fee adjustment charge. An additional charge maybe applied to the consumer's invoice if the consumer consumed at least Mgallons more (a second tier) than the expected volume during the billingperiod, M>N. In some embodiments M may equal 2*N. Additional charges maybe applied for additional tiers of water consumption above the expectedvolume. The volume of water corresponding to intervals between eachsequential tier may correspond to the same volume of water (e.g.,M=2*N), although the intervals between sequential tiers may correspondto greater or lesser volumes of water. The charge for consuming morewater in different sequential tiers may be a multiple of the charge forconsuming more water than that associated with the first tier. Forexample, the consumer may receive a charge of $B for consuming asufficiently large volume of water to reach the first fee adjustmentcharge tier and $2*B for consuming a sufficiently large volume of waterto reach the second fee adjustment charge tier (and $3*B for reachingthe third fee adjustment charge tier, etc.). In other embodiments, theconsumer may be charged greater or less than a multiple of the chargefor consuming more water than that associated with the first tier forconsuming a sufficiently large volume of water to reach the second feeadjustment charge tier or further sequential fee adjustment chargetiers.

Example 2A: Remaining Capacity Determination

Methods of estimating or determining a remaining treatment capacity ofan ion exchange media bed may produce more accurate results whenutilizing a weighted daily average flow rate (see equation (7) above)rather than a measured current exchange daily average flow rate alone.FIG. 11A illustrates a chart of a first example of projected days untilmedia bed exhaustion vs. time. In FIG. 11A the projected days untilmedia bed exhaustion calculated based on the measured current exchangedaily average flow rate alone (the “Days Until Filter Replaced” line) iscompared to projected days until media bed exhaustion based on weighteddaily average flow rates. The weighted daily average flow rates werecalculated utilizing a weighting of 70% for cumulative daily averageflow rate and a weighting of 30% current exchange daily average flowrate in accordance with equation (7) above (the “Projected Days Left”line”). As can be seen from FIG. 11A, when calculating the remainingtreatment capacity of the ion exchange media bed based on the measuredcurrent exchange daily average flow rate alone, the media bed may bereplaced while having about 50% of its capacity remaining, leading toavoidable costs associated with a service trip to replace the media bedion exchange resin early and associated with regenerating anon-exhausted media bed. When a weighted daily average flow rateutilizing the 70% weighting for cumulative daily average flow rate andthe 30% weighting for current exchange daily average flow rateillustrated in FIG. 11A is used, a much more accurate estimate of a timeof exhaustion of the media bed is determined. If the remaining capacityof the ion exchange bed had been calculated utilizing the weighted dailyaverage flow rate rather than the measured current exchange dailyaverage flow rate alone, the ion exchange bed may have continued tooperate for an additional 30 days and treated an additional 1,292gallons of water prior to the ion exchange media bed being replaced.

Example 2B: Remaining Capacity Determination

A second example chart of projected days until media bed exhaustion vs.time is presented in FIG. 11B. Similar to the chart in FIG. 11A, in FIG.11B the projected days until media bed exhaustion calculated based onthe measured current exchange daily average flow rate alone (the “DaysUntil Filter Replaced” line) is compared to projected days until mediabed exhaustion based on weighted daily average flow rates. The weighteddaily average flow rates were calculated utilizing a weighting of 70%for cumulative daily average flow rate and a weighting of 30% currentexchange daily average flow rate in accordance with equation (7) above(the “Projected Days Left” line”). As can be seen from FIG. 11B, whencalculating the remaining treatment capacity of the ion exchange mediabed based on the measured current exchange daily average flow ratealone, the media bed was replaced on day 30 after the media bed had beenexhausted on day 27, potentially providing water of an unacceptablequality. When a weighted daily average flow rate utilizing the 70%weighting for cumulative daily average flow rate and the 30% weightingfor current exchange daily average flow rate illustrated in FIG. 11B isused, a much more accurate estimate of a time of exhaustion of the mediabed is determined. If the remaining capacity of the ion exchange bed hadbeen calculated utilizing the weighted daily average flow rate ratherthan the measured current exchange daily average flow rate alone the ionexchange bed may have been replaced on day 27 and operation of the ionexchange media bed with exhausted media may have been avoided.

The examples illustrated in FIGS. 11A and 11B show that utilizing aweighted daily average flow rate instead of a measured current exchangedaily average flow rate alone to determine a remaining treatmentcapacity of an ion exchange media bed and to coordinate replacement orexchange of the media bed when it is approaching exhaustion could leadto a significant avoidance of costs. These costs may be associated witha service trip to replace the media bed ion exchange resin earlier thanneeded, with regenerating a non-exhausted media bed, and withpotentially providing water of an unacceptable quality to a consumer orpoint of use.

Having thus described several aspects of at least one embodiment of thisdisclosure, it is to be appreciated various alterations, modifications,and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Suchalterations, modifications, and improvements are intended to be part ofthis disclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope ofthe disclosure. Accordingly, the foregoing description and drawings areby way of example only.

The phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose ofdescription and should not be regarded as limiting. As used herein, theterm “plurality” refers to two or more items or components. The terms“comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” and“involving,” whether in the written description or the claims and thelike, are open-ended terms, i.e., to mean “including but not limitedto.” Thus, the use of such terms is meant to encompass the items listedthereafter, and equivalents thereof, as well as additional items. Onlythe transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentiallyof,” are closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, withrespect to the claims. Use of ordinal terms such as “first,” “second,”“third,” and the like in the claims to modify a claim element does notby itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claimelement over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method areperformed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claimelement having a certain name from another element having a same name(but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.

What is claimed is: 1.-16. (canceled)
 17. A system for providing treatedwater, the system comprising a first water treatment unit having: afirst ion exchange bed having ion exchange media contained therein, anddisposed to receive a first water stream to be treated; a first flowmeter positioned along a flow path including the first ion exchange bedand configured to measure a first flow rate of the first water streampassing through the first flow path; and a first controller incommunication with the first flow meter, the first controller configuredto: receive first flow rate data regarding the first flow rate;calculate, based on the first flow rate data, a first current averageflow rate of the first water stream through the first ion exchange bed;calculate a first cumulative average flow rate through the first watertreatment unit; determine a first weighted average flow rate from aweighted average of the first current average flow rate and the firstcumulative average flow rate; and determine an estimated number of daysremaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in the first ionexchange bed based on the first weighted average flow rate and acapacity of the ion exchange media of the first ion exchange bed. 18.The system of claim 17, further comprising a second water treatment unitdisposed remotely from the first water treatment unit, the second watertreatment unit having: a second ion exchange bed having ion exchangemedia contained therein, and disposed to receive a second water streamto be treated; a second flow meter positioned along a second flow pathincluding the second ion exchange bed and configured to measure a secondflow rate of the second water stream passing through the second flowpath; and a second controller in communication with the second flowmeter, the second controller configured to: receive second flow ratedata regarding the second flow rate; calculate, based on the second flowrate data, a second current average flow rate of the second water streamthrough the second ion exchange bed; calculate a second cumulativeaverage flow rate through the second water treatment unit; determine asecond weighted average flow rate from a weighted average of the secondcurrent average flow rate and the second cumulative average flow rate;and determine a second estimated number of days remaining to exhaustionof the ion exchange media in the second ion exchange bed based on thesecond weighted average flow rate and a capacity of the ion exchangemedia of the second ion exchange bed.
 19. The system of claim 18,further comprising a central controller located at a site remote fromfirst water treatment unit disposed to receive the estimated number ofdays remaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in the first ionexchange bed.
 20. The system of claim 19, wherein the central controlleris further configured to receive the second estimated number of daysremaining to exhaustion of the ion exchange media in the second ionexchange bed and determine whether to replace the ion exchange media inthe first ion exchange bed and ion exchange media in the second ionexchange bed in a same service trip.
 21. The system of claim 19, whereinthe central controller is configured to determine whether to replace theion exchange media in the first ion exchange bed and the ion exchangemedia in the second ion exchange bed in the same service trip byweighing a cost associated with regenerating the ion exchange media ofthe first ion exchange bed and the ion exchange media of the second ionexchange bed against a cost associated with different service trips toeach of the first and the second sites.
 22. The system of claim 17,wherein the first controller is configured to determine the firstweighted average flow rate by applying a greater weighting to the firstcurrent average flow rate than a weighting applied to the firstcumulative average flow rate.
 23. The system of claim 22, wherein thefirst controller is configured to determine the first weighted averageflow rate by performing a calculation as follows:first weighted average flow rate=A×(first cumulative average flowrate)+B×(first current average flow rate), wherein 0.5<A<0.9, 0.1<B<0.5,and A+B=1.
 24. The system of claim 22, wherein the first controller isfurther configured to schedule a second replacement of the ion exchangemedia at a second time determined from the estimated number of daysremaining until the ion exchange media will be exhausted.
 25. The systemof claim 22, wherein the second controller is configured to determinethe second weighted average flow rate by performing a calculation asfollows:second weighted average flow rate=C×(second cumulative average flowrate)+D×(second current average flow rate), wherein 0.5<C<0.9,0.1<D<0.5, and C+D=1.
 26. A water treatment system comprising: a centralserver; and a plurality of water treatment units, each water treatmentunit disposed remotely from the central server, and each respectivelyhaving: ion exchange media disposed to receive water to be treated andprovide treated water, at least one flow meter disposed to monitor flowof water in the water treatment unit, and a controller configured to:determine, for a predetermined period, an unadjusted flow rate of waterthrough the water treatment unit, determine a historical flow rate ofwater through the water treatment unit, determine, for the ion exchangemedia, at least one of an expected remaining service capacity and apredicted days to exhaustion based on the unadjusted flow rate, thehistorical flow rate, and a total capacity of the ion exchange media,and transmit at least one of the expected remaining service capacity andthe predicted days to exhaustion to the central server.
 27. The systemof claim 26, wherein each of the water treatment units further comprisesa conductivity sensor disposed to respectively measure a conductivity ofwater introduced into the ion exchange media of each respective watertreatment unit, and wherein the controller is further configured todetermine at least one of the predicted days to exhaustion and the totalcapacity of the respective ion exchange media based on the measuredconductivity from the conductivity sensor.
 28. The system of claim 27,wherein the central server is configured to generate a service requestto replace ion exchange media in a particular water treatment unit ifthe predicted days to exhaustion of the particular water treatment unitis less than a service lag time.
 29. The system of claim 27, wherein thecentral server is configured to generate a service request to replacethe respective ion exchange media in a particular water treatment unitif the remaining capacity of the particular water treatment unit is lessthan a minimum capacity.
 30. The system of claim 27, wherein the centralserver is further configured to combine at least two service requestsfrom at least two different water treatment units into single aggregatedservice request to replace respective ion exchange media of the at leasttwo water treatment units if a separation distance between the at leasttwo water treatment units is less than a maximum separation distance.31. A method of providing treated water, comprising: receiving, at aremote server, at least one of a remaining capacity and an estimatedperiod remaining to exhaustion of a first ion exchange bed at a firsttreatment unit, the first treatment unit is configured to: monitor aflow rate of water through the first ion exchange bed of the firsttreatment unit configured to deliver treated water to a first point ofuse; calculate a first average flow rate of water through the first ionexchange bed for a predefined time period; determine a first averageconductivity of the water into the first ion exchange bed during thepredefined time period; determine at least one of the remaining capacityand the estimated period remaining to exhaustion of the first ionexchange bed based on the first average flow rate, the first averageconductivity, and a first historical average flow rate of water throughthe first treatment unit; and receiving, at the remote server, at leastone of a remaining capacity and an estimated period remaining toexhaustion of a second ion exchange bed of a second treatment unit, thesecond treatment unit remote from the first treatment unit, andconfigured to monitor a flow rate of water through the second ionexchange bed of the second treatment unit configured to deliver treatedwater to a second point of use; calculate a second average flow rate ofwater through the second ion exchange bed for the predefined timeperiod; determine a second average conductivity of the water into thesecond ion exchange bed during the predefined time period; determine atleast one of the remaining capacity and the estimated time to exhaustionof the second ion exchange bed of the second treatment unit based on thesecond average flow rate, the second average conductivity, and a secondhistorical average flow rate of water through the second treatment unit.32. The method of claim 31, wherein the first controller determines theat least one of the remaining capacity and the estimated periodremaining to exhaustion of the first ion exchange bed by weighting thefirst average flow rate relative to the first historical average flowrate according to a ratio ranging from about 2:8 to about 4:6.